表观遗传学简介

摘要

Epigenetics has become a hot topic in biomedical research in last a few years.Epigenetics refers to as epigenome,and it is interpreted as epigenetic changes (DNA methylation,histone modifications and non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs) in the regulation of genes expression on chromatin-based pathways rather than a single gene.Epigenetic factors such as DNA methylation,histone modification and miRNA serve as an interface for environmental stimuli and interacts each other to regulate gene expression and control phenotypes of cell.All of those epigenetic factors are essential in the keeping homeostasis of human body and contribute to many biologic conditions.In addition,the application of epigenetic drugs has been come into clinical trials especially in the treatment of cancers,therefore the understanding the mechanism of epigenetics in the development of human diseases and the therapeutic potential of epigenetic regulators in the treatment of human disease will bring us into the epigenetics era in biomedical research.%最近几年,表观遗传学已经成为生物医学研究的热点.表观遗传学是指表观遗传学改变(DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰和非编码RNAs如miRNAs)对表观基因组基因表达的调节,这种调节不依赖基因序列的改变且可遗传.表观遗传学因素如DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰和miRNA是对环境刺激因素变化的反映,这些表观遗传学因素相互作用以调节基因表达,控制细胞表型,所有这些表观遗传学因素都是维持机体内环境稳定所必需的,有助于正常生理功能的发挥,但表观遗传学异常也是很多疾病发生的原因.除此之外,表观遗传学药物已经应用于临床试验特别是癌症的治疗.因此了解表观遗传学机制在人类疾病发生中的作用和表观遗传学调节剂对疾病治疗的价值将会迎来生物医学研究的表观遗传学时代.