Epigenomic Analysis for Breast Cancer

Epigenomic analysis studies chemical modifications to DNA and histone proteins that regulate gene expression without changing the genetic code. In breast cancer, these epigenetic changes are crucial for tumorigenesis, affecting cell differentiation, proliferation, and treatment response. Understanding these modifications helps uncover mechanisms of breast cancer and identify potential biomarkers. Alfa Cytology offers a complete suite of epigenomic analysis services tailored for breast cancer research, including data generation, analysis, and interpretation.

Introduction of Epigenome

Breast cancer (BC) is largely caused by epigenetic alterations, which are key drivers of tumorigenesis and progression. The formation and maintenance of epigenetic changes depend on specific enzymes, including DNA methyltransferases and histone deacetylases, which are promising targets for epigenetic-based therapies. The epigenome is a genome-wide map of these epigenetic modifications and is dynamic. Different types of cells have different epigenomes, which are involved in defining which genes are required in each type of cell during cell differentiation and controlling when those required genes are activated and most of the rest are repressed.

Fig.1 New strategies for epigenetic modification detection and epigenetic editing in breast cancer therapeutics. (Sarvari P, et al., 2022)

Our Services

Alfa Cytology can provide you with BC epigenome analysis services. Epigenetic changes are thought to be reversible, thus making them potentially promising therapeutic targets for disease treatment. Epigenetic therapy is thought to reactivate the expression of genes that have undergone epigenetic silencing, thereby reprogramming cancer cells. A better understanding of the epigenome of BC may improve diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Our epigenome technology platform covers NGS sequencing, epigenetic chips, PCR, etc., as well as mature MeDIP, hMeDIP, and ChIP technologies. We provide professional epigenomic technology services, including,

• DNA methylation
  Under the catalysis of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT), S-adenosylmethionine is used as the methyl donor to transfer the active methyl group to a specific base in the DNA chain. Our research methods include HPLC, HPCE, MSRE-PCR/Southern, MethyLightMS-PCR, RLGS, etc.
• DNA hydroxymethylation
  The content of DNA hydroxymethylation in tumor tissue is significantly lower than that in normal tissue, but the detection sensitivity of DNA hydroxymethylation is high, and the detection of noise pollution is less. The purpose of analysis can be achieved with lower sequencing data, which greatly saves the cost of sequencing.
• Histone modification
  Histone modification is a post-translational modification of protein in a covalent manner. Common histone modifications include methylation, phosphorylation, acetylation, and ubiquitination. The technologies we mainly use are ChIP-seq and CUT&Tag.

Application Fields

Advantages of Our Services

Alfa Cytology is a leading global CRO company. Our complete, optimized, and easy-to-operate workflows provide you with fast, accurate, and reproducible results to help you achieve your research goals. We provide personalized, innovative, complete sequencing service solutions, if you are interested in learning more about our BC multi-omic analysis services, please feel free to contact us. Our professional and patient staff will get in touch with you as soon as possible.