Original Articles
Nazeema Banu Basheer, Harshiny
Abstract
Epigenetics is the study of modification in gene expression that does not involve changes in DNA nucleotide sequences. DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that offers a great potential for identification of biomarkers to detect and diagnosis cancer in its earlier stage and to accurately assess individual risk. The current study sought to investigate genome wide methylation in blood of 55 volunteers. The volunteers were questioned to analyse the relationship of global DNA methylation pattern with their age, family history of cancer, diet, alcohol intake and smoking habits.