The dynamic DNA methylomes of double-stranded DNA viruses associated with human cancer.

Epigenetics of human cancer is a challenging but promising area for early detection, prognosis, and therapy. In virus-associated cancers, interaction between pathogens and hosts leads to epigenetic modification in which genomes of specific viruses and the infected cells are regulated by a variety of mechanisms including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and binding of regulatory proteins. The epigenetic reasons why viral pathogens escape from the human immune system and how human infected tissues progress to cancer are not completely investigated. In this article, Fernamdez et al. (2009) has used bisulfite genomic sequencing of multiple clones to describe the DNA methylation in every CpG nucleotide position in the genome of Human Papilloma Viruses 16 and 18, which are responsible for most uterine cervical cancers; as well as Human Hepatitis B Virus and in all the transcription start sites of the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). Most interestingly, the level of methylation in the genomes of these viruses was associated with the progress of the disease from asymptomatic through chronic to tumour invasive stages. The evidence of viral adaptation by integration and methylation in the host genomes could stimulate the progress of ongoing human epigenome projects for further understanding of any alternation in human genome that drives to carcinogenic changes.

My Ngoc Nghiem
ID: 42136860