Dear Colleagues,

Cancer cells are simultaneously characterized by a massive overall loss of methylation in DNA and the acquisition of specific patterns of hypermethylation at CpG islands of certain gene promoters. Clearly established epigenetic mechanisms in human cancer, such as DNA methylation and histones methylation and acetylation, can reversibly or irreversibly alter gene function. Epigenetic abnormalities are set and maintained by multiple protein complexes and the interplay between their individual components, including DNA methylation machinery, histone modifiers, polycomb proteins and chromatin remodellers. Hence, DNA methylation mapping has revealed cancer-specific profiles of hypermethylated CpG islands (hypermethylomes) able to distinguish between different tumor types and to predict antineoplasic treatment responsiveness and patients’ outcome. It has been made achievable, by the introduction of next-generation technologies that have led to the generation of a large amount of information, to better appreciate the role of the epigenomics of cancer in the clinical scenario.

Given the importance of the epigenetics in neoplasia development, it is worth highlighting its attractive quality as a field of interest in personalized oncology. Pharmacoepigenetics, or the use of epigenetic biomarkers for the prediction of resistance to antineoplasic agents, is a potentially useful tool to be applied in the selection of cancer treatment in the clinical practice, allowing for the use of strategies that are suitable to be efficiently analysed in easy-getting samples in a non-invasive manner in order to make possible the use of biomarkers for the selection of the best treatment choice.

Taking into account the recent advances in this field, not only in a biological sense but also in technical terms, the purpose of this Special Issue is to put in context the role of epigenetic alterations in cancer, in both a translational and clinical setting, and emphasize the situation of pharmacoepigenomics in oncology, to generate interest in the health community for this discipline.

Dr. Anna Martínez-Cardús
Dr. Verónica Dávalos
Guest Editors

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• epigenomics
• translational oncology
• tailored therapy
• epigenetic modifications
• next generation techniques
• pharmacoepigenomics
• molecular oncology