In recent years, cancer genomics has provided new insights into genetic alterations and signaling pathways involved in thyroid cancer. However, the picture of the molecular landscape is not yet complete. DNA methylation, the most widely studied epigenetic mechanism, is altered in thyroid cancer. Recent technological advances have allowed the identification of novel differentially methylated regions, methylation signatures and potential biomarkers. However, despite recent progress in cataloging methylation alterations in thyroid cancer, many questions remain unanswered. The aim of this review is to comprehensively examine the current knowledge on DNA methylation in thyroid cancer and discuss its potential clinical applications. After providing a general overview of DNA methylation and its dysregulation in cancer, we carefully describe the aberrant methylation changes in thyroid cancer and relate them to methylation patterns, global hypomethylation and gene-specific alterations. We hope this review helps to accelerate the use of the diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic potential of DNA methylation for the benefit of thyroid cancer patients.
Keywords: DNA methylation; biomarkers; demethylating drugs; global hypomethylation; thyroid cancer.