Epigenetic modifications are changes which can regulate gene expression. DNA methylation in gene promoter regions is the most well-known change among epigenetic modifications. The family of DNA methyltransferases is responsible for DNA methylation. Methylation is reversible due to the demethylation reaction, executed by TET proteins. DNA hypomethylation and hypermethylation of gene promoter regions rich in CpG islands belonging to epigenetic mechanisms commonly occur in many tumors. The epigenetic mechanism of malignant transformation is related not only to changes in the level of methylation of oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, but also to post-translational modifications of histone proteins, forcing changes in the chromatin structure. Certain modifications, such as methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, biotinylation, ADP–ribosylation, and sumoylation may affect chromatin condensation, protein and enzyme complexes that determine the availability of DNA, which then affects the condensation, replication, recombination and repair processes, as well as gene expression. Among the modulatory mechanisms of the expression of genes involved in the processes leading to cancer development, two main types of small interfering RNA play an important role: siRNA and miRNA. Research data Show that epigenetic mechanisms are involved in the processes leading to tumor development, and searching for epigenetic biomarkers may be useful in epigenetic cancer therapy.