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Translational Research and Onco-Omics Applications in the Era of Cancer Personal Genomics pp 31–42Cite as

Pharmaco-epigenomics: On the Road of Translation Medicine

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1168))

Abstract

Epigenomics refers to the study of genome-wide changes in epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs expression. The alterations in normal DNA methylation and histone acetylation/deacetylation patterns lead to deregulated transcription and chromatin organization resulting in altered gene expression profiles that facilitates tumor development and progression. In consequence, novel therapeutic strategies aimed at reversing aberrant epigenetic marks in cancer cells have been developed and used in recent molecular studies and clinical trials. Pharmaco-epigenomics is a research area, which refers to the study of epigenome changes in cancer development and how chemotherapeutic agents can reverse these aberrant epigenetic marks by targeting the epigenetic machinery. Besides, the effects of genome-wide polymorphisms in populations leading to variations in drug response are also study subject of pharmaco-epigenomics and are being studied extensively in cancer. Recent findings showed that drug response could be largely influenced by the presence of aberrant epigenetic marks of the whole genome. This implies that biological pathways and cellular processes are under the impact of epigenome status. However, data about the relationship between drug response and the epigenomic variations is still scarce mainly because the epigenome is highly variable between individuals. The present chapter reviewed the advances on the epigenetics changes mainly DNA methylation and histones modifications on cervical and breast human cancers. A special emphasis in how they could be used as targets for the development and use of novel drugs in cancer therapy is delineated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Posgrado en Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    César López-Camarillo & María Elizbeth Álvarez-Sánchez

  2. Laboratorio de Medicina Translacional, Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, Ciudad de México, México

    Dolores Gallardo-Rincón

  3. Programa en Biomedicina Molecular y Red de Biotecnología, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México, México

    Laurence A. Marchat

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  1. César López-Camarillo
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  2. Dolores Gallardo-Rincón
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  3. María Elizbeth Álvarez-Sánchez
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  4. Laurence A. Marchat
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Correspondence to César López-Camarillo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology & Translational Medicine Laboratory, Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia, Mexico City, Mexico

    Erika Ruiz-Garcia

  2. Translational Research Laboratory in Cancer & Celullar Therapy, Hospital de Oncologia, Siglo XXI, IMSS, Mexico City, Mexico

    Horacio Astudillo-de la Vega

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López-Camarillo, C., Gallardo-Rincón, D., Álvarez-Sánchez, M.E., Marchat, L.A. (2019). Pharmaco-epigenomics: On the Road of Translation Medicine. In: Ruiz-Garcia, E., Astudillo-de la Vega, H. (eds) Translational Research and Onco-Omics Applications in the Era of Cancer Personal Genomics. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1168. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24100-1_3

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