表观遗传学及现代表观遗传生物医药技术的发展

The Developments of Epigenetics and Epigenetics-based Modern Biomedicine and Pharmaceutics

表观遗传学和基于表观遗传机制的生物医药技术的研究已经成为后基因组时代生命科学技术领域的重要组成部分。围绕肿瘤、心脑血管疾病、糖尿病及中老年神经退行性疾病等过程中DNA甲基化修饰、组蛋白翻译后修饰及非编码RNA等表观遗传学改变的深入研究,不仅有利于理解相关疾病的分子病理机制,而且,更有助于探寻基于表观遗传机制的有效治疗手段。在阐释表观遗传学修饰机制的基础上,对疾病过程中异常的表观遗传学修饰及相关生物医药技术的研究现状进行了归纳总结。

Epigenetics and epigenetic mechanism-based biomedical technologies have emerged as important research fields in post-genomic area. In-depth investigation on epigenetic alterations of DNA methylation, histone modifications, non-coding RNAs, etc. in tumorigenesis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases associated with the elderly population is not only beneficial to the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of the diseases, but also useful in exploring effective treatments based upon epigenetic mechanisms. This review first briefly introduces epigenetic modification mechanisms, then summarizes current research progress on abnormal epigenetic modifications in the disease conditions, and also discusses the relevant biomedical technology.