Defining the criteria for identifying constitutional epimutations

In the January 2016 issue of Clinical Epigenetics, Quinonez-Silva et al. (Clin Epigenetics 8:1, 2016) described a possible constitutional epimutation of the RB1 gene as a cause of hereditary predisposition to retinoblastoma. The term constitutional epimutation describes an epigenetic aberration in normal tissues that predisposes to disease. The data presented by Quinonez-Silva et al. are interesting, but further analysis is required to demonstrate a constitutional epimutation in this family. Here, we define the criteria and describe the experimental approach necessary to identify an epigenetic aberration as a constitutional epimutation.