Cancer is often associated with heritable epigenetics changes, which are characterized by the change in gene expression profile without changing the underlying DNA sequence. The most prominent epigenetic modification is methylation of DNA; which to a large extent is connected to modifications of histone proteins. Epigenetic modifications resulting in a normal gene are reversible, thus endow functional flexibility and diversity to the genome and these modifications can be cured with selective epigenetic target inhibitors. Role of epigenetics in human cancer has been vastly studied and reported in recent decade with emerging evidences about the significance of epigenetic alterations to comprehend various cellular mechanisms. The cellular mechanisms which are crucial for controlling the growth & progression were seen to be impaired by epigenetic changes, which results into development of various human cancer diseases. Although several targets for cancer epigenetics have been identified and annotated in recent past, the development of novel anticancer treatments for these targets are still in nascent stage. By recognizing the spectrum of cancer epigenetics, an array of new drug discoveries was been possible these days. In this chapter, we presented an overview of such epigenetic modifications which occurs and resulted into human cancer; relationship between those epigenetic enzyme classes and cancer types, with a note on pre-clinical utilizations of inhibitors for the treatment of such cancer types.

Cancer is often associated with heritable epigenetics changes, which are characterized by the change in gene expression profile without changing the underlying DNA sequence. The most prominent epigenetic modification is methylation of DNA; which to a large extent is connected to modifications of histone proteins. Epigenetic modifications resulting in a normal gene are reversible, thus endow functional flexibility and diversity to the genome and these modifications can be cured with selective epigenetic target inhibitors. Role of epigenetics in human cancer has been vastly studied and reported in recent decade with emerging evidences about the significance of epigenetic alterations to comprehend various cellular mechanisms. The cellular mechanisms which are crucial for controlling the growth & progression were seen to be impaired by epigenetic changes, which results into development of various human cancer diseases. Although several targets for cancer epigenetics have been identified and annotated in recent past, the development of novel anticancer treatments for these targets are still in nascent stage. By recognizing the spectrum of cancer epigenetics, an array of new drug discoveries was been possible these days. In this chapter, we presented an overview of such epigenetic modifications which occurs and resulted into human cancer; relationship between those epigenetic enzyme classes and cancer types, with a note on pre-clinical utilizations of inhibitors for the treatment of such cancer types.

Cancer is often associated with heritable epigenetics changes, which are characterized by the change in gene expression profile without changing the underlying DNA sequence. The most prominent epigenetic modification is methylation of DNA; which to a large extent is connected to modifications of histone proteins. Epigenetic modifications resulting in a normal gene are reversible, thus endow functional flexibility and diversity to the genome and these modifications can be cured with selective epigenetic target inhibitors. Role of epigenetics in human cancer has been vastly studied and reported in recent decade with emerging evidences about the significance of epigenetic alterations to comprehend various cellular mechanisms. The cellular mechanisms which are crucial for controlling the growth & progression were seen to be impaired by epigenetic changes, which results into development of various human cancer diseases. Although several targets for cancer epigenetics have been identified and annotated in recent past, the development of novel anticancer treatments for these targets are still in nascent stage. By recognizing the spectrum of cancer epigenetics, an array of new drug discoveries was been possible these days. In this chapter, we presented an overview of such epigenetic modifications which occurs and resulted into human cancer; relationship between those epigenetic enzyme classes and cancer types, with a note on pre-clinical utilizations of inhibitors for the treatment of such cancer types.