Advances of cell-free DNA methylation in breast cancer / 国际外科学杂志

ABSTRACT

DNA methylation is one of the most important epigenetic mechanism and molecular biological basis in tumor suppressor gene silencing.It is now well recognized that solid malignant tumors can release a significant amount of genomic DNA into systemic circulation,and with more than 90％ of this total circulating cell-free DNA derived from tumor tissue,which can reflect the overall cell heterogeneity of the tumor itself.In breast cancer,the presence of abnormally high DNA concentrations in plasma has been reported,and changes in the levels of these circulating DNA associated with tumor burden and progression have been confirmed repeatedly.Accumulating data strongly suggested that DNA methylation patterns found in circulating cell free DNA were similarly with the primary tumor,and could be a useful biomarker in early diagnosis,prognosis assessment,and recurrence monitoring for breast cancer patients.Here,we summarize the latest advances in this research field.