组蛋白甲基化及其与肿瘤间的关系

Histone Methylation and Its Relationship with Cancer

组蛋白甲基化修饰是表观遗传学的重要研究领域之一,主要可分为精氨酸甲基化和赖氨酸甲基化两种。越来越多的证据表明组蛋白甲基化功能异常与肿瘤的发生发展密切相关,而且这种甲基化修饰过程是可逆的。对组蛋白甲基化的进一步研究,不仅有助于深入了解基因表达、调控、遗传等生理机制,而且对于肿瘤等重大疾病的诊断、防治和预后判断有重要意义。本文对组蛋白甲基转移酶、去甲基化酶及其与肿瘤发生发展的关系予以综述。

Histone methylation, including arginine methylation and lysine methylation, is one of the important area of epigenetics research. There is growing evidence that the abnormity of histone methylation is closely related to the process of carcinogenesis, and this methylation is a reversible modification process. Further studies on the histone methylation would not only help to better understand the physiological mechanisms of gene expression, regulation and genetics, but also throw light on the research of diagnosis, prevention, treatment and prognosis of tumor and other serious diseases. In this paper, the histone methyltransferase, demethylase and their relationship with the process of eareinogenesis were summarized.