Epigenetics and environment: a complex relationship.

Role of Epigenetics in Biology and Human Diseases

For a long time, scientists have tried to describe disorders just by genetic or environmental factors. However, the role of epigenetics in human diseases has been considered from a half of century ago. In the last decade, this subject has attracted many interests, especially in complicated disorders such as behavior plasticity, memory, cancer, autoimmune disease, and addiction as well as neurod...

HIGHLIGHTED TOPIC Epigenetics in Health and Disease Epigenetics and environment: a complex relationship

Oscar Aguilera,* Agustín F. Fernández,* Alberto Muñoz, and Mario F. Fraga Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Alberto Sols, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid; Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory, Instituto Universitario de Oncología del Principado de Asturias, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo; and Depart...

INVESTIGATION OF METHYLATION OF TNF-Α GENE PROMOTER IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES

Background: Type II diabetes is a chronic inflammatory condition that is associated with a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Tumor necrosis factor alpha or TNF-α as an adipocyte cytokine, which affects the signaling pathway of insulin, can contribute to insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes patients. Considering the importance of epigenetic changes in multifactorial diseases, th...

Epigenetics at the epicenter of modern medicine.

Epigenetics, the study of non-DNA sequence-related heredity, is at the epicenter of modern medicine because it can help to explain the relationship between an individual's genetic background, the environment, aging, and disease. It can do so because the epigenetic state varies among tissues and during a lifetime, whereas the DNA sequence remains essentially the same. As cells adapt to a changin...

The Prospects of Epigenetics in Neuroscience