Epigenetics

Abstract

Historically, cancer is known to be a genetic disease. It is now realized that it involves epigenetic abnormalities along with genetic alterations. Epigenetics is an extra layer of instruction that lies upon DNA and controls how the genes are read and expressed. It simply means changes in phenotype without a change in genotype. In this review we aim to discuss the fundamentals of epigenetics, role of these alterations in carcinogenesis and its implications for epigenetic therapies.