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Updated: Dec 12, 2025

An Integrated Platform for Genome-wide Mapping of Chromatin States Using High-throughput ChIP-sequencing in Tumor Tissues
Published on: April 5, 2018
Epigenetic mechanisms and the hallmarks of cancer: an intimate affair
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, American University of Beirut Beirut, Lebanon.
Abstract:
Epigenetic mechanisms comprising DNA methylation, histone modifications, and noncoding RNAs affect chromatin structure and regulate gene expression. These mechanisms control normal embryonic development and adult life and their deregulation contributes to several diseases including cancer. The process of tumorigenesis is complex and results from the evolution of different "hallmarks of cancer". Hanahan and Weinberg presented in 2000 and 2011 seminal contributions in the cancer field, first the six hallmarks of cancer and a decade later two additional hallmarks and two enabling characteristics were added. Here, we surmise that epigenetic mechanisms regulate and contribute to every single hallmark in cancer, and thus represent the hallmark of hallmarks in tumorigenesis. Focusing on epigenetics as a major hallmark in cancer formation has profound preventive, therapeutic, and clinical implications.
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