Viral manipulation of the host epigenome for oncogenic transformation

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Abstract
Recent studies have shown that viral oncoproteins induce specific epigenetic changes to stimulate the replication of normally quiescent cells. These findings have implications for understanding the roles of epigenetics in cancer, and in normal biological processes such as differentiation. The cancerous cellular state is associated with multiple epigenetic alterations, but elucidating the precise order of such alterations during tumorigenic progression and their contributions to the transformed phenotype remains a significant challenge in cancer biology. Here we discuss recent findings on how viral oncoproteins exploit specific epigenetic processes to coerce normal cells to replicate when they should remain quiescent — a hallmark of cancer. These findings may highlight roles of epigenetic processes in normal biology and shed light on epigenetic events occurring along the path of non-viral neoplastic transformation.