Editorial: Epigenetic biomarkers for cancer risk stratification and patient management

The epigenome encompasses a compendium of heritable but potentially reversible
modifications that collectively regulate gene expression and drive development and cellular
differentiation. Human cancers arise due to the accumulation of genetic and epigenetic
alterations that ultimately promote malignant transformation (Jones and Baylin, 2002).
Epigenetic changes occur in early carcinogenesis with cell-type specific patterns that hold
promise to be useful as cancer biomarkers (Berdasco and Esteller, 2019; Zhao et al., 2021).
Research into the epigenetic epidemiology of cancer, and the potential application of
epigenetic biomarkers in oncology, has been spurred by recent advances in epigenomic
methods for the detection of various types of modifications with unprecedented resolution,
and the use of alternative tissue sources such as liquid biopsies (Widschwendter et al., 2018).