epigenomic dysregulation

One of the major challenges in genetics today is to understand the causes of complex genetic diseases. The genes involved in these disorders are thought to interact with poorly-defined environmental factors to exert their phenotypic effects. An emerging view is that epigenetics also plays a role in complex diseases.

Epigenetic regulatory mediators can be influenced by several environmental factors, that variability of the epigenome can cause variation in phenotypes, and that epigenetic dysregulation can be heritable across generations.

Assays that map epigenetic regulatory patterns across the whole genome have recently become available, which enable to explore the epigenomic influences on complex diseases, thus offering new avenues for diagnostic biomarker development and therapeutic strategies.

References

 Hatchwell E, Greally JM. The potential role of epigenomic dysregulation in complex human disease. Trends Genet. 2007 Nov;23(11):588-95. PMID: 17953999

 Rodenhiser D, Mann M. Epigenetics and human disease: translating basic biology into clinical applications. CMAJ. 2006 Jan 31;174(3):341-8. PMID: 16446478 (Free)