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Viral Oncology Epigenetics

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Encyclopedia of Cancer

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Definition

Viral oncology epigenetics can represent the epigenetic alterations that occur within the host cell genome as a result of viral infection or virally induced carcinogenesis. Alternatively, viral oncology epigenetics can refer to epigenetic alterations of the viral genome during latent or lytic infection or during carcinogenesis.

Characteristics

One of the emerging concepts in cancer biology is that epigenetic alterations are important in the initiation and early progression of the majority of human cancers. However, differentiation of the early cancer causing epigenetic alterations from later consequences is difficult. Oncogenic viruses are typically very small and with very few genes and yet can induce transformation. Therefore, investigations into the epigenetic alterations that viruses make to the host cell genome may provide an indication of which epigenetic alterations are critical for early carcinogenesis.

Oncogenic virusesinclude any virus that has been identified as...

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References

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See Also

  • (2012) DNA Methylation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1140. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1682

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  • (2012) Histone Acetylation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1697. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2750

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  • (2012) HTLV-1. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1752. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2844

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  • (2012) Hypomethylation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1791. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2922

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  • (2012) LMP2. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2068. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3401

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  • (2012) Retrovirus. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp 3296–3297. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5084

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology, Imperial College London, London, UK

    James Flanagan

Authors
  1. James Flanagan
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Correspondence to James Flanagan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

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Flanagan, J. (2015). Viral Oncology Epigenetics. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_6192-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_6192-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

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