This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsbmb.2016.04.009 ; After briefly reviewing the nature of DNA methylation, its general role in cancer and the tools available to interrogate it, we consider the literature surrounding DNA methylation as relating to prostate cancer. Specific consideration is given to recurrent alterations. A list of frequently reported genes is synthesised from seventeen studies that have reported on methylation changes in malignant prostate tissue, and we chart the timing of those changes in the diseases history through amalgamation of several previously published data sets. We also review associations with genetic alterations and hormone signalling, before the practicalities of investigating prostate cancer methylation using cell lines are assessed. We conclude by outlining the interplay between DNA methylation and prostate cancer metabolism and their regulation by Androgen Receptor, with a specific discussion of the mitochondria and their associations with DNA methylation. ; CEM is funded by an ERC grant. IGM is supported in Oslo by funding from the Norwegian Research Council, Helse Sor-Ost and the University of Oslo through the Centre for Molecular Medicine (Norway), which is a part of the Nordic EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) partnership. IGM holds a visiting scientist position with Cancer Research UK through the Cambridge Research Institute and a Senior Honorary Visiting Research Fellowship with Cambridge University through the Department of Oncology. IGM is supported in Belfast by the Belfast-Manchester Movember Centre of Excellence (CE013_2-004), funded in partnership with Prostate Cancer UK. AGL is supported by a Cancer Research UK programme grant (C14303/A20406) to Simon Tavar? and by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 project SOUND (Grant Agreement no. 633974). CEM and AGL acknowledge the support of the University of Cambridge, Cancer Research UK and Hutchison Whampoa Limited.