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NDT Advance Access originally published online on February 28, 2008
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 2008 23(5):1493-1496; doi:10.1093/ndt/gfn056
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© 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.


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  		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
 

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