Epigenetic Biomarkers in Cancer Epidemiology
Cancer remains a significant global public health issue, with 17.5 million incident cancer cases and 8.7 million cancer deaths in 2015. Although traditional epidemiology methods have significantly improved understanding of etiologic and prognostic risk factors for cancer, leading to targeted interventions, improvements in our understanding of cancer biology and genomics have ushered in a new era of epidemiologic studies integrating molecular biomarkers. Cancer biomarkers have led to improvements in the validity of risk-assessment measures and early detection strategies, and provide insights into disease progression and prognosis, all of which have been useful in targeted, personalized cancer therapies. Epigenetic modification holds significant promise as cancer biomarkers as they can be used to evaluate specific, reversible changes in genes relevant for disease, and can be used to monitor critical events in tumorigenesis. There are challenges in the use of cancer biomarkers, including availability and quality of biospecimen, cost, and logistical challenges with analysis, and for epigenetic biomarkers specifically, more work is needed to fully characterize the range of epigenetic changes in humans. Progress has been made in addressing some of these limitations in recent years, and the ongoing collaborations between basic scientists, geneticists, and population scientists incorporating the use of epigenetic biomarkers into cancer research have significant potential to translate into actionable strategies to reduce the burden of cancer.
