Loci-specific differences in blood DNA methylation in HBV-negative populations at risk for hepatocellular carcinoma development.

Late onset of clinical symptoms in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) results in late diagnosis and poor disease outcome. Approximately 85% of individuals with HCC have underlying liver cirrhosis. However, not all cirrhotic patients develop cancer.

Stilbenoids remodel the DNA methylation patterns in breast cancer cells and inhibit oncogenic NOTCH signaling through epigenetic regulation of MAML2 transcriptional activity.

DNA hypomethylation was previously implicated in cancer progression and metastasis. The purpose of this study was to examine whether stilbenoids, resveratrol and pterostilbene thought to exert anticancer effects, target genes with oncogenic function for de novo methylation and silencing, leading to inactivation of related signaling pathways. Following Illumina 450K, genome-wide DNA methylation analysis reveals that stilbenoids alter DNA methylation patterns in breast cancer cells.