A role for epigenetics in the formation of chromosome translocations in acute leukemia.

In general, the field of cancer genetics seems to have shifted its focus from cancer-associated genes to cancer-associated epigenetic activity. An abundance of evidence suggests that epigenetic malfunction, such as aberrant histone modification, and altered DNA methylation, is at the root of much, if not most aberrant gene expression associated with cancer. However, a role for epigenetics in physical DNA changes, such as chromosome rearrangements, is less obvious, and certainly less well understood. A growing body of evidence suggests that epigenetics may play a role in many of the steps of aberrant chromosome recombination, especially chromosome translocations, associated with cancers such as acute leukemias.