Aug 2026· Onco· Vol 6, pp. 40· 0 citations· 61 references
TL;DR
Current insights into the epigenetic regulation of cancer metastasis are summarized, emerging epigenetic therapies are evaluated, and translational opportunities to advance precision anti-metastatic strategies and improve patient outcomes are highlighted.
Abstract
Cancer metastasis is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality, accounting for more than 90% of cancer deaths worldwide. However, the epigenetic mechanisms governing the metastatic cascade remain incompletely understood. Epigenetic reprogramming, including reversible changes in histone modifications, DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling, and non-coding RNA (ncRNA)-mediated regulation, enables tumor cells to acquire invasive, migratory, stem-like, and immune-evasive characteristics. During epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), key epigenetic regulators such as histone deacetylases (HDACs), the Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) subunit EZH2, lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1/KDM1A), and bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) proteins repress epithelial gene expression while activating mesenchymal transcriptional programs, promoting invasion and dissemination. At distant sites, epigenetic plasticity facilitates metastatic colonization through mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) and adaptive chromatin remodeling. Because these changes are reversible, they represent attractive therapeutic targets. HDAC, EZH2, LSD1/KDM1A, BET, and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors have shown promise in preclinical models of metastasis, with several advancing through clinical trials. Long non-coding RNAs, particularly HOTAIR, function as epigenetic scaffolds that reinforce metastatic programs, while reciprocal interactions between tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME) drive epigenetic adaptations that promote immune evasion and metastatic progression. In addition, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) methylation signatures are emerging as minimally invasive biomarkers for assessing metastatic risk and monitoring treatment. This review summarizes current insights into the epigenetic regulation of cancer metastasis, evaluates emerging epigenetic therapies, and highlights translational opportunities to advance precision anti-metastatic strategies and improve patient outcomes.
This review evaluating how the antagonistic interplay between Polycomb and Trithorax complexes, chromatin modifier activity, and enhancer reprogramming affects lineage identity and enables multi-lineage plasticity in cancer underscores epigenetic deregulation as a primary driver of lineage plasticity and intratumoral heterogeneity.
Ezgi Boyvatlı, Burcu Akman, E. Bağırsakçı et al.· FEBS Letters· 0 citations
Cellular plasticity refers to the ability of healthy cells to shift between phenotypic states and modify their characteristics to maintain tissue homeostasis and integrity. In the tumor context, cancer stem cells (CSCs) exploit this flexibility to withstand stress, facilitate tumor dissemination, and evade therapeutic interventions. Epigenetic regulation, particularly DNA methylation at CpG sites, is recognized as a well-known driver of tumor plasticity by repressing differentiation programs through modulation of chromatin accessibility. More recently, RNA modifications (epitranscriptomics) have emerged as crucial post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression that shape RNA fate and function. Among these, N6-methyladenosine (m6A), 5-methylcytosine (m5C), N1-methyladenosine (m1A), and N7-methylguanosine (m7G) contribute to the regulation of cell identity by modulating stemness-differentiation balance, stress adaptation, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Notably, dysregulation of both DNA and RNA methylation signatures is frequently observed in tumors, suggesting potential functional interactions between these regulatory layers. Emerging evidence indicates that DNA CpG methylation and RNA methylation pathways may cooperate to influence stemness, survival, and EMT-associated signaling, thereby supporting CSCs' plasticity. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying this crosstalk remain incompletely understood, accumulating studies suggest that DNA and RNA methylation could converge within interconnected regulatory networks that contribute to the control of cancer cell identity. A deeper understanding of these interactions may uncover novel vulnerabilities for targeting tumor plasticity. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the interplay between DNA and RNA methylation in regulating tumor plasticity, highlighting emerging mechanistic insights, functional interactions, and potential implications for future epigenetic and epitranscriptomic therapeutic strategies.
Guglielmo Bove, U. Chianese, Antonio Beato et al.· Seminars in Cancer Biology· 0 citations
Abstract Ovarian cancer remains one of the deadliest gynecological malignancies, mainly due to its late diagnosis, biological heterogeneity, and frequent development of chemoresistance. Recent evidence indicates that epigenetic dysregulation including aberrant DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, and non-coding RNA networks plays an important role in the initiation, progression, and therapeutic response of ovarian cancer. Unlike genetic alterations, epigenetic modifications are reversible, making them attractive targets for drug development and precision oncology. In this review, we provide a detailed overview of the epigenetic mechanisms that control ovarian cancer biology, with specific focus on their role in drug resistance and disease recurrence. We discuss the role of epigenetic plasticity in enabling transition of tumor cells into drug tolerant, stem like phenotypes, leading to minimal residual disease and eventual relapse without permanent genetic changes. Attention is given to the influence of DNA methyltransferases, histone deacetylases, enhancer of zeste homolog 2, and chromatin remodeling complexes in the maintenance of adaptive resistance programs. We also discuss the evolving paradigm of epigenetic regulation, immune modulation and viral mimicry and provide the rationale for combining epigenetic therapies with immunotherapy and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibition. The article also reviews the results of recent clinical trials and evaluate the most recent advances in biomarker development, such as circulating DNA methylation signatures, microRNAs, and artificial intelligence-based liquid biopsy platforms. Finally, we discussed the potential implications of applying epigenetic profiling in the clinic for improved patient stratification and the potential for real-time monitoring of chemoresistance. These progresses make epigenetic regulation a promising strategy to overcome chemoresistance and improve personalized medicine of ovarian cancer.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive and clinically heterogeneous breast cancer subtype characterized by the absence of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2 overexpression, limited targeted treatment options, early relapse, and frequent development of therapy resistance. Although TNBC often shows initial sensitivity to chemotherapy, durable responses are commonly undermined by the emergence of adaptive resistant cell states rather than solely by fixed genetic mutations. This review synthesizes the role of epigenetic plasticity as a central mechanism that enables TNBC cells to dynamically reprogram transcriptional identity, survive therapeutic stress, and transition between epithelial, mesenchymal, stem-like, immune-evasive, and drug-tolerant persister phenotypes. Key epigenetic mechanisms include aberrant DNA methylation, histone acetylation and methylation, BET/BRD4-dependent transcriptional regulation, EZH2-mediated repression, SWI/SNF-dependent chromatin remodeling, non-coding RNA networks, and three-dimensional genome reorganization. These processes regulate tumor suppressor silencing, DNA-damage repair, epithelial–mesenchymal plasticity, cancer stem-cell maintenance, metabolic adaptation, immune-checkpoint regulation, and minimal residual disease. The review also highlights the translational relevance of epigenetic biomarkers, including DNA methylation signatures, circulating epigenetic markers, chromatin-accessibility profiles, and single-cell epigenomic approaches for diagnosis, prognosis, therapy prediction, and monitoring resistance evolution. Finally, therapeutic strategies targeting epigenetic plasticity are discussed, including DNMT, HDAC, BET, EZH2, KDM, and LSD1 inhibitors, with emphasis on rational combination approaches involving chemotherapy, PARP inhibitors, immunotherapy, and metabolic targeting. Overall, epigenetic plasticity represents both a major driver of TNBC resistance and a therapeutically exploitable vulnerability, provided those future strategies account for tumor heterogeneity, adaptive cell-state transitions, biomarker-guided patient selection, and combination-based treatment design.
A. Alaa, Salma A. B. El-Din, Mohannad A. Farrag et al.· Biomedicines· 0 citations
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) drive therapeutic resistance, metastasis, and tumor recurrence through reversible transitions among stem-like, differentiated, epithelial, and mesenchymal states, which are sustained by interconnected epigenetic mechanisms. To our knowledge, this is the first review to integrate curcumin-mediated regulation of DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling, and non-coding RNAs within a single CSC plasticity framework and to propose the concept of an “epigenetic collapse of CSC plasticity” as a mechanistic explanation for how curcumin may weaken stemness, state switching, and adaptive treatment resistance. Evidence was critically evaluated through structured searches of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, Google Scholar, and citation tracking, while direct curcumin–epigenetic evidence was distinguished from independent CSC evidence and inferential mechanistic links. Curcumin has been reported to modulate DNMT1 and locus-specific DNA methylation; regulate HDACs, p300/CBP, EZH2, H3K27me3, and BMI1; and alter selected microRNA, long non-coding RNA, and circular RNA pathways, with comparatively stronger evidence involving the miR-34 family, miR-200c, miR-21, H19, and circHN1. However, current evidence is constrained by the predominance of bulk cancer-cell models, heterogeneous formulations and exposure conditions, and the scarcity of epigenetic rescue experiments combined with rigorous functional CSC assays. By unifying previously fragmented epigenetic evidence, this review advances a new evidence-weighted model in which curcumin may suppress CSC persistence not through a single molecular target, but by destabilizing the multilayer epigenetic circuitry that enables plasticity. Curcumin should therefore be regarded as a context-dependent, multilayer epigenetic modulator rather than an established CSC-eradicating therapy, and its translational relevance requires validation in prospectively defined CSC models with pharmacologically justified delivery and exposure conditions.
J. N. Rana, Jayashri Ghosh, Shoail Mumtaz· International Journal of Mol...· 0 citations
Chronic inflammation is a hallmark of cancer, driving initiation, progression, and metastasis through sustained pro-inflammatory signaling and immune microenvironment remodeling. Physical exercise reduces systemic low-grade inflammation and improves cancer outcomes, yet the molecular conduits linking transient exercise stress to durable anti-inflammatory effects remain poorly defined. Epigenetic mechanisms-DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs-translate environmental stimuli into stable gene expression changes. In this review, we dissect the tripartite interplay between physical exercise, epigenetic regulation, and cancer-associated inflammation. We first outline how chronic inflammatory signaling aberrantly reprograms the cancer epigenome, silencing tumor-suppressor and pro-resolution genes via promoter hypermethylation and repressive histone marks, while activating oncogenic and pro-inflammatory mediators through permissive chromatin states. We then synthesize evidence that structured exercise counteracts this corruption by modulating DNA methyltransferases, TET dioxygenases, and histone deacetylases, thereby reversing pathological methylation and acetylation patterns at inflammatory loci. We further examine how exercise-induced circulating microRNAs and exosomal cargo propagate these epigenetic signals systemically to distant tumor niches. A mechanistic model is proposed wherein exercise-dependent epigenetic reprogramming attenuates NF-κB-driven inflammatory circuits and restores immune surveillance. Finally, we identify critical knowledge gaps-tissue-specificity, dose-response relationships, and durability of exercise-induced epigenetic modifications-that must be addressed to translate the exercise-epigenetics-inflammation axis into personalized cancer prevention and therapy.
Wenhui Tan, Bing Wang, Xiu-Mei Tian et al.· Biochimica et Biophysica Act...· 0 citations
We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads.
See our Cookie Policy.
