Differential expression of epigenetic regulatory genes in liver cancer

Abstract

Epigenetic mechanisms are involved in the organization of chromatin structure and global regulation of gene expression [1]. Cancer cells display multiple epigenetic changes including aberrations in the methylation of DNA, expression of non-coding RNA s and posttranslational modifications of histones [1,2]. Epigenetic changes appear to play a major role in liver cancer [3], one of the rare malignancies that can be induced by dietary restriction of methyl donors. Furthermore, global DNA hypomethylation and selective promoter hypermethylation of a large set of genes affect these cancers. Recently, mutations of ARID1a and ARID2 genes involved in chromatin remodeling have also been reported [4], but a systematic study of the status of epigenetic regulatory genes is lacking. Our aim was to identify epigenetic regulatory genes associated with liver cancer.