Cancer Epigenetics for the 21st Century: What's Next?

The discovery of global DNA hypomethylation events in human tumors in the early 1980s and the identification of CpG island promoter hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes in cancer cells in the mid 1990s opened the door to the current excitement about the contribution of epigenetic disruption to human disease. The recent gigantic advances in technology make it possible to obtain complete DNA methylomes, histonomes, and non-coding RNA transcriptomes for many biological settings and their associated disorders. Furthermore, whole genome sequencing analyses yields an increasing number of mutated epigenetic genes in neoplasia. It is time to sit back, enjoy the show with a little help of friendly bioinformatic tools, and wonder about what will happen next.