The identification of the oral cancer stem cell and analysis of the property―Role analysis of the epigenetic regulation and application to treatment―

DNA甲基化在肿瘤抑制基因转录沉默中的重要性在肿瘤干细胞中得到了认识。全基因组低甲基化在癌症干细胞中也有报道，并与遗传不稳定性有关。在本研究中，我们分析了口腔鳞状细胞癌肿瘤抑制基因的甲基化。结果表明，肿瘤抑制基因的表观遗传失活在肿瘤干细胞的发病机制中起着重要作用，许多基因可能成为肿瘤干细胞诊断和治疗的有用分子靶点。

The importance of DNA methylation in the transcriptional silencing of tumor suppressor genes is recognized in cancer stem cell. Genome-wide hypomethylation has also been reported in cancer stem cell and has been associated with genetic instability. In this study, we analyzed methylation of tumor suppressor gene of oral squamous cell carcinoma. The results suggest that epigenetic inactivation of tumor suppresser gene play an important role in pathogenesis of cancer stem cell and many genes may be a useful molecular target for the diagnosis and treatment for cancer stem cell.