Clinical consequences

Five scenarios showing what can happen when methylation patterns drift out of balance.

“The goal is not to methylate everything. The goal is to regulate the right genes, in the right tissues, at the right time, at the right intensity.”

Promoter hypermethylation · BRCA1 / MLH1 / CDKN2A

Tumor suppressor silenced

Mechanism

Heavy methyl tags on the promoter block transcription. The protective gene goes dark exactly when the cell needs DNA repair or cell-cycle braking.

What this means

An important 'shield gene' got switched off. The body loses one of its repair tools.