The role of epigenetics in the rat mammary gland

Epigenetics plays an important role in carcinogenesis with heritable changes in DNA methylation and histone modifications intricately linked to the initiation, promotion, and progression of cancer. Evidence shows that a number of chemical and physical agents can induce epigenetic changes during carcinogenesis. Two such agents, estrogen and ionizing radiation, are generally recognized as being carcinogenic. Yet the epigenetic repercussions of these carcinogens remain relatively unknown. More importantly, the combined effect of these carcinogens has never been addressed in vivo from an epigenetic standpoint. Therefore, we focused on the effect of estrogen and ionizing radiation applied separately or in conjunction. We have found that the exposure to estrogen, either alone or in combination with radiation, induced pronounced morphological alterations, which was paralleled by modifications to the epigenomic landscape in the mammary gland. The results obtained from these rodent models can potentially be extrapolated to humans.

Grantor dc:publisher

Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Biological Sciences, c2010

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Authors dc:creator

• Kutanzi, Kristy
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

Advisor dc:contributor.supervisor

• Kovalchuk, Olga

• Carcinogenesis
• Estrogen
• Ionizing radiation
• Rats as laboratory animals
• Epigenesis
• Mammary glands -- Cancer
• Breast -- Cancer -- Research
• Dissertations, Academic

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier

hdl:10133/2492

OAI record oai:identifier

https://opus.uleth.ca/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Aopus.uleth.ca%3A10133%2F2492