Epigenetic changes during tumour development – functional epigenetics study

DNA methylation plays a key role in demarcation of regulatory regions, including promoter-associated CpG islands. While CpG islands are typically maintained in an unmethylated state, a proportion of islands are subject to hypermethylation during tumorigenesis. A key question is to understand what triggers the aberrant changes to the DNA methylation landscape in cancer. Using methylome sequencing, we have identified a subset of distinct CpG islands that display partial DNA methylation encroachment across 5ʹ or 3ʹ CpG island borders.