Figure 3.

Schematic representation of DNA methylation occurrence in relation to cGvHD and other conditions. In healthy condition, epigenetic changes in DNA methylation occur often on most of cellular gene promoters, resulting in the absence of gene expression. In cancer, inflammation and other conditions such as cGvHD, some relevant genes become methylated and as such, suppressed in their function. Accordingly, aberrant DNA methylation profiles can point to the diseased tissue, providing important information prior to treatment. Epigenetic drugs, such as demethylating agents (DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors), for example azacytidine (AZAC) and decitabine (DEC), may be used to induce expression of certain genes, particularly after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT), enhancing the graft versus leukemia (GvL) effect. Thus, demethylating agents could be considered a therapy of choice for recovering from cGvHD. Hypermethylated genes are presented in red, while hypomethylated in green color.