Skip Navigation


NDT Advance Access originally published online on February 28, 2008
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 2008 23(5):1493-1496; doi:10.1093/ndt/gfn056
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
23/5/1493    most recent
gfn056v2
gfn056v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Stenvinkel, P.
Right arrow Articles by Ekström, T. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Stenvinkel, P.
Right arrow Articles by Ekström, T. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved.For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org


Epigenetics—a helpful tool to better understand processes in clinical nephrology?

Peter Stenvinkel1 and Tomas J. Ekström2

1 Division of Renal Medicine, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology 2 Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Correspondence and offprint requests to: Peter Stenvinkel, Department of Renal Medicine, K56 Karolinska University Hospital at Huddinge, 141-86 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel: +46-8-58582532; Fax: +46-8-7114742; E-mail: peter.stenvinkel@ki.se

Keywords: epigenetics; chronic kidney disease; genetics; homocysteine; inflammation

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.



   Epigenetic processes control the packaging and function of the human genome
 
Epigenetics (literally in addition to the genetic sequence) is a novel discipline that has languished in the shadow of its genomic big brother that has attracted little interest among nephrologists. By tradition, phenotypic variations are divided into a genetic and an environmental component (Figure 1). There is no doubt that variations within the genome may have an impact on the phenotype in chronic kidney disease (CKD) [1]. However, as epigenetic mechanisms due to environmental factors are also critical for normal functioning of the genome [2], the associations between the unphysiological uraemic environment and the epigenotype should be of interest to study in this patient group. Indeed, as the epigenotype is transmitted to daughter cells, and epigenetic changes may endure in subsequent cell generations, this discipline could bring a new perspective to the study of all physiological processes.


Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
View larger version (17K):



  		Fig. 1 The phenotype is not only determined . . . [Full Text of this Article]

 


   How can epigenetics be studied?
 


   Factors affecting the epigenome in the uraemic milieu
 


   Impact of epigenetics on gene expression and telomere attrition
 


   Can epigenetics be manipulated?
 


   Conclusion
 

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?