Description
Many cancers develop partly due to ____ of tumor suppressor genes
hypermethylation
These external influences—such as diet, stress, or toxins—can alter gene expression.
What are environmental factors?
Epigenetic markers help developing cells differentiate into these specialized forms.
What are cell types (e.g., muscle, brain, skin cells)?
In the Dutch Hunger Winter study, affected children showed higher risks of these metabolic conditions.
What are obesity, heart disease, and metabolic disorders?
What occurs so that the cell can’t use genes, even though the DNA sequence is normal?
Genes become overly methylated
This type of epigenetic change can sometimes be passed to offspring.
What is heritable epigenetic modification?
With age, DNA methylation patterns become less stable, contributing to this broad decline.
What is age-related deterioration?
Hypermethylation of BRCA1 leads to failure in this essential cellular process.
What is DNA repair?
Losing expression of tumor suppressor genes contributes to this hallmark of cancer.
What is uncontrolled cell division?
Chronic stress may alter methylation in genes controlling this physiological system.
What is the stress response (or HPA axis)?
This type of “clock” can estimate biological age from methylation patterns.
What is an epigenetic clock?
The Dutch Hunger Winter study proved that this environment–gene process happens in humans.
What is epigenetic programming?
This gene, often silenced epigenetically in some breast cancers, plays a key role in DNA repair.
What is BRCA1?
Pollution and toxins often change DNA methylation, affecting these two major health areas.
What are metabolism and brain function?
This protective DNA structure shortens with age and works alongside epigenetic changes.
What are telomeres?
Epigenetic clocks, like Horvath’s, measure methylation to estimate this.
What is biological age?
Epigenetic changes may appear at this stage, sometimes earlier than mutations.
What is the early initiation of cancer?
This WWII event produced strong evidence that famine can alter epigenetic marks in unborn children.
What is the Dutch Hunger Winter?
Aging-related shifts in epigenetics contribute to diseases like Alzheimer’s due to changes in this type of gene activity.
What is altered gene expression?
BRCA1 methylation increases cancer risk even without this type of genetic change.
What is a DNA mutation?