What is it about?
Epigenetic deregulation is increasingly recognized as a central contributor to cancer progression, phenotypic plasticity, immune escape, and therapeutic resistance, with growing implications for biomarker development, patient stratification, and therapeutic intervention (1–3). By shaping gene expression, cell identity, and tumor–microenvironment interactions without altering DNA sequence, epigenetic mechanisms influence clinically relevant tumor phenotypes across multiple cancer types (1–3).
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Why is it important?
This Research Topic brings together five studies that illustrate these functions across complementary settings, including chromatin-based regulation of immune evasion in lung adenocarcinoma, epigenetic stratification of breast cancer, DNA methylation and demethylation dynamics in thyroid and bladder cancer, and small RNA-mediated regulatory networks in non-small cell lung cancer.
Perspectives
Taken together, these contributions show that epigenetic alterations are not simply associated with malignant transformation, but can actively shape disease behavior and therapeutic vulnerability. By spanning chromatin modifiers, DNA methylation and demethylation, and non-coding RNA-mediated regulation, the Topic links mechanistic insight to clinically relevant questions in oncology.
Dr Salvatore Cortellino
Scuola Superiore Meridionale
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Editorial: Epigenetic modulation in cancer, Frontiers in Oncology, May 2026, Frontiers,
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2026.1867730.
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