KEYNOTE LECTURE PRESENTATION Open Access Epigenetic field for cancerization: its cause and clinical implications

Epigenetic alterations are present not only in cancer cells but also in non-cancerous tissues. Accumulation levels of aberrant DNA methylation in non-cancerous tissues can correlate with risk of cancer development, especially in chronic inflammation-associated cancers [1-3]. The close correlation in non-cancerous tissues was prominent for epigenetic alterations, compared with genetic alterations, and formed a concept of “epigenetic field for cancerization (epigenetic field defect)”. In gas-tric cancers, close correlation between methylation levels and cancer risk has been demonstrated [4]. As mechanisms for methylation induction in the sto-mach, infection by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), the major cause of gastric cancers, was implicated in humans [5], and was demonstrated in Mongolian gerbil