Türk Nöroşirürji Dergisi 2017 , Vol 27 , Num 2
Epigenetic Mechanisms in Cancer
Mustafa AKKİPRİK1,Ebubekir DİRİCAN1,Gökçe GÜLLÜ AMURAN1,Ayşe ÖZER1
1Marmara Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi, Tıbbi Biyoloji Anabilim Dalı, İstanbul, Türkiye Cancer cells use many different mechanisms to survive and improve their properties of aggression. Of these, genetic alterations are studied in detail and intensively but the contribution of different epigenetic mechanisms to cancer development should not be ignored. In this review, epigenetic mechanisms will be discussed individually. Among the mechanisms, alternative splicing at the level of protein and gene, modifications of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or chromatin structure, ribonucleic acid (RNA) interference, posttranslational modifications and protein/protein interaction abnormalities come to the fore and gene expression could be changed by these mechanisms. Knowledge of these cancer-causing mechanisms enables the development of early molecular diagnostic tests, targeted therapies and prognostic markers. Epigenetic mechanisms play important roles in cancer biology. Anahtar Kelimeler : Cancer, Alternative splicing, Epigenetic, RNA interference, Posttranslational modification, Protein/protein interaction