Regulatory epigenetic factors in esophageal cancer

Abstract

This article reviews a large number of papers on the problem of esophageal cancer (EC) incidence and presents current data on the disease epidemiology, including its main morphological types such as esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA); incidence rates have shown a tendency to increase. Epigenetic factors are an important mechanism of carcinogenesis in EC. They do not affect the primary DNA structure but change activity of certain genes; one of important characteristics of epigenetic modifications is their persistence throughout cell division. Methylation of DNA cytosine bases at smoking and alcohol consumption is a common epigenetic mechanism in EC. Simultaneous tobacco use and alcohol consumption is reported to have a synergetic effect on carcinogenesis. The article presents modern data on genes often subjected to methylation in EC, especially RASSF1A, as well as on cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor proteins responsible for important stages of cell division. An association between epigenetic methylation processes and the depth of tumor invasion and a tendency to metastasis is shown; epigenetic effects, in particular methylation processes, can be a marker of advanced esophageal cancer.