Epigenetics of Infectious Diseases

The present volume of Epigenetics and Human Health is devoted to the patho-epigenetics of viral and microbial infections, an exiting new field of disease-related epigenetic research. As recognized during the past years, epigenetic reprogramming of pathogen and host genome functions - the latter frequently induced by pathogens - plays an important role in many infectious processes. Beyond their immediate relevance for pathogen proliferation and obligatorily associated symptoms, such alterations frequently contribute to severe additional complications, such as the development of immunodeficiency, cancer and various chronic disorders. This holds in particular for epigenetic dysregulation of host gene expression induced by latent infections. The present book summarizes current knowledge of the mechanisms underlying epigenetic changes caused by viral, bacterial, fungal and protozoan infections and their impact on human health.

Contenu

DNA Methylation of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Genomes During Infection and Cancer Progression.- Epigenetic regulation of gammaherpesviruses: A focus on Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV-8).- Discoveries in molecular genetics with the Adenovirus 12 system: Integration of viral DNA and epigenetic consequences.- Epigenetic consequences of Epstein-Barr virus infection.- Epigenetic Programming by Microbial Pathogens and Impacts on Acute and Chronic Disease.- Crosstalk between bacteria and the host epigenetic machinery.- Epigenetic phase variation in bacterial pathogens.- Epigenetic switching in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans.- *Modification of the host epigenome by parasitic protists.- Epigenetic regulation in *T. brucei: Changing coats is a chance to survive.- Epigenetics of malaria parasites.