Methylated DNA and microRNA in body fluids as biomarkers for cancer detection

Abstract

Epigenetic alterations including DNA methylation and microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the initiation and progression of human cancers. As the extensively studied epigenetic changes in tumors, DNA methylation and miRNAs are the most potential epigenetic biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. After the identification of circulating cell-free nuclear acids, increasing evidence demonstrated great potential of cell-free epigenetic biomarkers in the blood or other body fluids for cancer detection. © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.