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Updated: Jun 14, 2025
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An Integrated Platform for Genome-wide Mapping of Chromatin States Using High-throughput ChIP-sequencing in Tumor Tissues
Published on: April 5, 2018
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Compromised epigenetic robustness in cancer: fueling evolution, exposing weakness.
Thomas Stuart Wilson1, Paola Scaffidi2
1Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK; Department of Infectious Diseases, School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
Trends in Cancer
|March 7, 2025
Summary
Cancer involves disruptions in epigenetic regulation, including chromatin and DNA methylation. Genetic alterations destabilizing the epigenetic regulatory network (ERN) can lead to common cancer phenotypes and influence treatment resistance.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Cancer Biology
- Epigenetics
Background:
- The epigenetic regulatory network (ERN), controlling chromatin and DNA methylation, is frequently disrupted in cancer.
- Clonal and subclonal mutations affecting molecular functions are common across various cancer types.
- Loss of epigenetic control is increasingly recognized as a driver of cancer initiation and progression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review how genetic alterations destabilizing the ERN converge into common cancer phenotypes.
- To discuss the implications of altered ERN topology and epigenetic dysregulation for cancer evolution.
- To explore the impact of these epigenetic changes on cancer vulnerability and therapeutic resistance.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of genetic alterations impacting the ERN.
- Analysis of emerging evidence on epigenetic control in cancer.
- Discussion of network topology and systemic epigenetic disorder in cancer.
Main Results:
- Diverse genetic alterations can destabilize the ERN, leading to shared phenotypic characteristics in cancer.
- Systemic epigenetic disorder contributes to cancer evolution and acquired vulnerabilities.
- Altered ERN topology is linked to therapeutic resistance in various cancers.
Conclusions:
- Genetic disruptions in the ERN are a unifying mechanism in cancer development.
- Understanding ERN dynamics is crucial for predicting cancer evolution and resistance.
- Targeting epigenetic dysregulation may offer novel therapeutic strategies.
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