Epigenetics: History and Importance

Epigenetics is the study of how behavior and environment can change the way genes work. There are different kinds of epigenetic changes: DNA methylation, histone modification and non-coding RNA.  

Epigenetics can change with age, with growth and development– different cells in the body can change with age. Not all epigenetic changes are irreversible, for example: a smoker who quits smoking’s cells may eventually return to normal. Some epigenetic changes can increase the risk of infection, cancer or other diseases such as heart disease or type 2 diabetes. A connection between maternal environment and behavior has also been observed to cause some epigenetic characteristics.

This concept of epigenetics was introduced in 1939 by a man named Conrad Hal Waddington, over 70 years ago. Then in 1975, cytosine methylation was described by Holiday and Pugh; this was followed by more descriptions in 1977 and 1978. From 1999 to 2007, multiple projects were released to study this subject, including HEP, the Human Epigenome Project. Following these projects came an innovation in the oncology field- promoter hypermethylation was used as a biomarker to screen for colorectal cancer. 2009 was the year that the first epigenetic drug: 5-Azacitidine, was approved by the FDA to treat a disease called Myelodysplastic Syndrome. It is a disease that hinders the production of blood cells, sometimes called preleukemia.