40 Volume 2 • Issue 1 • 1000105 Madridge J Cancer Stud Res. ISSN: 2640-5180 Madridge Journal of Cancer Study & Research Review Article Open Access Response to Epigenetic treatment in Gastric Cancer Cells: a Mini Review Saeed Taheri* The New Lahijan Scientific Foundation, Iran Article Info *Corresponding author: Saeed Taheri The New Lahijan Scientific Foundation 13166-44158 Iran E-mail: taherimd@gmail.com Received: May 1, 2018 Accepted: May 22, 2018 Published: May 28, 2018 Citation: Taheri S. Response to Epigenetic treatment in Gastric Cancer Cells: a Mini Review. Madridge J Cancer Stud Res. 2018; 2(1): 40-46. doi: 10.18689/mjcsr-1000105 Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Published by Madridge Publishers Abstract Introduction: Gastric cancers (GC) are usually considered associated with poor survival and significant resistance to chemotherapy in either clinical or in vitro settings, and epigenetic factors have been shown to be able to predict sensitivity of GC cells to therapeutic regimens. In the current study, the aim was to review the available evidence of the feasibility of epigenetic treatment including DNA methylation inhibitors (DNMTi) or histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) on survival indices of GC cells in vitro. Methods: The literature has been searched to find studies assessing potential impact of epigenetic drugs including DNMTi and HDACi agents on the survival and proliferative indices of GC cells, in an in vitro setting using Medline/Pubmed search engine. Finally 16 studies have been found, and their data got extracted and reviewed. Results: Both DNMTi and hDACi drugs have been shown to significantly repress either proliferation or apoptosis indices of GC cell lines compared to untreated controls. However, when comparing to specimens under chemotherapy, they represented less effectiveness. The highest effect was observed when a combination therapy using both chemotherapy and epigenetic treatment was employed. Conclusion: Epigenetic treatment is shown to be feasible in the management of GC cells in vitro, especially when co-administered with chemotherapy agents. Future studies in the clinical setting are recommended for confirmation of the results. Keywords: Epigenetic treatment, Gastric Cancer Cells, Chemotherapy, DNA methylation inhibitors, histone deacetylase inhibitors. Introduction Epigenetics is the terminology used for defining heritable molecular mechanisms altering gene expression patterns without affecting DNA sequences, and they include DNA methylation, histone modifications, regional nucleosome load, and non-coding RNAs [1]. Epigenetic regulation of gene expression is a major factor in maintaining health control in the cell physiology, and it has been demonstrated that its alterations are major contributors in provoking and establishing aberrant gene expression profiles prevalently observed in the cancer cells. More recent evidence is suggestive that epigenetic factors can be good indicators for several survival indicators in cancer patients including resistance or sensitivity to chemotherapy [2]. Gastric cancers are usually diagnosed in the late stages and they are associated with poor survival and significant resistance to chemotherapy in the clinical and in vitro settings, and epigenetic factors have been shown to well predict sensitivity and resistance of gastric cancer cells to different therapeutic regimens [3, 4]. To address this issue and considering their potential impact on reactivating tumor suppressor ISSN: 2640-5180