Figure 4.

Pre-established chromatin topology in cancer development. Most of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are developed on the basis of liver cirrhosis while the risk of HCC varies on cirrhotic patients. We presume that some cirrhotic patients are at low risk of HCC due to absence of chromatin topological structures orchestrating HCC development. Other cirrhotic patients are designated for HCC development due to establishment of the specific chromatin topological structures at stepwise fashions (i.e. establishment of insulated neighbourhoods, pre-established enhancer–promoter contact prior to gene transcription and gene activation by specific transcription factor binding on enhancer/promoter). Identification of these ‘structural’ biomarkers may be implicated for early warning and intervention of HCC development.