Aberrant Methylation of Gene Promoters in Cancer--Concepts, Misconcepts, and Promise

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Abstract
In this issue of the Journal, Tang et al. (1) report that the presence of abnormal methylation in the 5` region of the death-associated protein (DAP) gene in tumor DNA predicts shorter survival in patients who had undergone surgery for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This change in methylation is an example of an epigenetic process that is attracting increasing attention, both because of its potential significance to our basic understanding of cancer and because of its possible use for improved cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the study by Tang et al. also raises many of the questions that constitute an ongoing vigorous, but constructive, debate as to the true biologic significance of these postreplicative DNA changes (2).

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