This issue of Translational Research features articles reviewing the progress and promise of epigenomics in the context
of human health and disease. These articles provide examples of epigenomics, the study
of genomic modifications causing and maintaining heritable changes in gene expression
that cannot be attributed to changes in the primary DNA sequence, in a wide range
of disorders from cancer (Nickel et al, Figueroa et al, Costa et al Stadler et al,
Langevin et al, Kishi et al) to neurodegenerative (Bennett et al) and metabolic (Evans-Molina
et al) diseases. This diversity in diseases highlights the breadth of the potential
for clinical applications of epigenomics. At their most basic level, epigenomic studies
help to elucidate disease etiology and pathogenesis. Building on this foundation,
epigenomic insights can guide the development of diagnostic and prognostic tools.
As epigenomic marks can be responsive to the environment, there is a lot of interest
in their potential role as mediators of the effect of nongenetic risk factors for
disease; these mechanistic insights into the consequences of environmental and other
risk factors may provide targets for drug development. Further the cell-type specificity
of epigenomic marks (Arnett et al) suggests that drugs that specifically target diseased
epigenomic states, such as histone deacetylase and DNA methyltransferase inhibitors,
may be useful in the context of cancers and inflammatory diseases (Lopez et al). Finally,
tools arising from engineered epigenomic states, such as induced pluripotent stem
cells, hold potential to fundamentally alter drug testing, disease modeling, tissue
repair, and transplantation (Kobayashi et al).
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 04, 2014
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© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
