Potential Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers of Epigenetic Drift within the Cardiovascular Compartment

Figure 1

DNA methylation (writing, reading, and erasing) represents one of a number of means through which epigenetic modification of DNA may occur. Methyltransferase enzymes serve to methylate cytosine residues, particularly in CpG islands. Methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD) proteins, Ubiquitin-like, containing PHD and RING finger domain (UHRF) proteins or zinc-finger proteins may each play a role in reading methylated DNA. Deamination of 5′ methylcytosines to form thymine residues that are subsequently removed via the base excision repair mechanism is one way that methylated bases may be restored.