Overview: Epigenetic Regulation in Cancer Stem Cells by Methylation

Epigenetic regulation mechanisms in stem cells are crucial for self?renewal and differentiation capacities, however these abilities are deregulated in cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are able to induce and maintain the tumor growth. Due to cancer stem cells share physiologic properties with their normal counterparts, there is a rationale to evaluate epigenetic regulation mechanisms that drive the unpaired self?renewal and differentiation abilities resulting in cancer. DNA and histone methylation plays a relevant role in the gene expression regulation of components belong to cell signaling pathways involved in self?renewal CSCs such as Wnt, Notch and Hg. In this review, we make an overview of epigenetic mechanisms to regulate the highly CSCs tumorigenicity methylation?mediated.