Current trends in the development and application of molecular technologies for cancer epigenetics

Current progress in epigenetic research supports the view that diet and dietary components are important in cancer etiology by enhancing or inhibiting carcinogenesis. Since diet and dietary factors may significantly contribute to the causation and progression of many cancers, it is important to find the molecular mechanisms of action of such dietary factors for cancer prevention and treatment. Recently, the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the cancer development and progression has attracted more attention as additional evidence along with traditional DNA sequence based mechanisms such as mutations and structural re-arrangements. Such an increasing interest in cancer epigenetics has also accelerated the development and application of molecular assays and tools for DNA methylation detection and histone modification enrichment analysis. In this paper, key assays and methods for epigenetic research are reviewed and discussed in terms of their utility and usability. In addition, more advanced methods for genome-wide analysis are introduced as part of upcoming research trends and directions. (C) 2013 Baishideng. All rights reserved.