The Possibility of DNA Methylation for Precision Medicine in Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

　I (the author) received the 44th Juntendo Medical School Alumni Association Academic Encouragement Award in May 2022. After graduating from Juntendo University School of Medicine in 2002, I trained in the Department of Coloproctological Surgery at Juntendo University, led by Professor Toshiki Kamano and Professor Kazuhiro Sakamoto. I then studied DNA methylation in cancer at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland in the United States of America from December 2013 to July 2016. I worked in the laboratory of Professor Malcolm V Brock, a thoracic surgeon, in the Department of Thoracic Surgery. The subject of this translational research was ‘Epigenetics’, and specifically DNA methylation in lung and esophageal cancer. Epigenetics is the study of potentially heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence, while genetics involves changes to the underlying DNA sequence. In epigenetic alterations, methyl marks added to certain bases repress gene activity by tightly packing the chromatin. Recently, there have been many attempts to apply epigenetics to clinical diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

　Colorectal cancer is a global cause of death and an increasingly common disease worldwide. To predict and improve long-term outcomes in CRC, a wide variety of perioperative biomarkers, including imaging markers, blood markers, and pathological and molecular markers, have been reported as prognostic factors. This review includes a description of three of our previous studies on DNA methylation and summarizes the potential clinical usefulness of the findings in precision medicine for colorectal cancer.