The role of aberrant DNMT3Bs in tumor progression

Cancer is among the most common causes of death in the United States, second only to heart disease, and is initiated by a loss of cell cycle control resulting from the deregulation of oncogenes and/or tumor suppressor genes. Epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation or histone modifications, are common in cancer cells leading to altered gene regulation and tumor progression. Recently, studies have identified aberrant DNA methyltransferase ( DNMT ) transcripts in cancer cells but not normal cells. Specifically, aberrant transcripts of DNMT3B have been shown to have a role in tumor progression including the ΔDNMT3B variants as well as DNMT3B7 . This review focuses on epigenetic changes caused by aberrant DNMT3B s in cancer and their role in tumor progression or suppression.