Hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes in cancer.

Hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes and other genes functionally important in the neoplastic process is a recently recognized process. This epigenetic process is characterized by loss of function of these genes associated with transcriptional loss in the absence of structural alterations. The growing list of genes inactivated by promoter region hypermethylation provide an opportunity to examine the patterns of inactivation of such genes and provide clues as to the roles these events play in the neoplastic process. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.