The role of histone methylation in the development of digestive cancers: a potential direction for cancer management

• Published in: Signal transduction and targeted therapy Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 143
• Main Authors: Chen, Yuan, Ren, Bo, Yang, Jinshou, Wang, Huanyu, Yang, Gang, Xu, Ruiyuan, You, Lei, Zhao, Yupei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 03.08.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/67/1059/153; 631/67/1504; 631/67/68; 631/67/69; 692/4020/1503/1504; Cancer; Cancer Research; Cell Biology; Colorectal cancer; Gastric cancer; Internal Medicine; Liver cancer; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Oncology; Pancreatic cancer; Pathology; Review; Review Article
• ISSN: 2059-3635; 2095-9907; 2059-3635
• DOI: 10.1038/s41392-020-00252-1

Digestive cancers are the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide and have high risks of morbidity and mortality. Histone methylation, which is mediated mainly by lysine methyltransferases, lysine demethylases, and protein arginine methyltransferases, has emerged as an essential mechanism regulating pathological processes in digestive cancers. Under certain conditions, aberrant expression of these modifiers leads to abnormal histone methylation or demethylation in the corresponding cancer-related genes, which contributes to different processes and phenotypes, such as carcinogenesis, proliferation, metabolic reprogramming, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, invasion, and migration, during digestive cancer development. In this review, we focus on the association between histone methylation regulation and the development of digestive cancers, including gastric cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, and colorectal cancer, as well as on its clinical application prospects, aiming to provide a new perspective on the management of digestive cancers.