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    The therapeutic uses of chromatin-modifying agents

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    In contrast to genetic aberrations, epigenetic aberrations can be reversed by the use of histone acetyltransferase (HAT), histone deacetylase (HDAC), SIRT, or histone methyltransferase (HMT) inhibitors. A well-known HDACi, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, has been recently approved for the treatment of cutaneous T cell lymphoma, and a number of HDACi are in clinical trials as anticancer drugs. in addition, HDACi could be useful in antimalarial and antifungal therapies and can reactivate the HIV-1 expression in latent cellular reservoirs, thus suggesting the use in a combination therapy with highly active antiretroviral therapy. HDACi have also been reported to have anti-inflammatory effects through inhibition of cytokines and key transcription factors, and to ameliorate the phenotypes in animal models of neurological disorders. HDACi can also reactivate the gamma-globin gene for the treatment of beta-thalassaemia, and recently were shown to relieve morphological and functional effects of muscular dystrophia. Dysfunction of HAT enzymes is also often associated with several diseases, including cancer; thus, the HATi can represent new chemical entities for the development of new drugs. Only a few HMTi have been described to date, but these small molecules could be a useful scaffold to discovering new highly active and enzyme-selective compounds to develop as therapeutics

    Epi-drugs to fight cancer: From chemistry to cancer treatment, the road ahead

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    In addition to genetic events, a variety of epigenetic events have been widely reported to contribute to file Onset of many diseases including cancer. DNA methylation and historic modifications (such as acetylation, methylation, sumoylation, and phosphorylation) involving chromatin remodelling are among the most studied epigenetic mechanisms for regulation of gene expression leading, when altered, to some diseases. Epigenetic therapy tries to reverse the aberrations followed to the disruption of the balance of the epigenetic signalling ways through the use of both natural compounds and synthetic molecules, active on Specific epi-targets. Such epi-drugs are, for example, inhibitors of DNA methyltransferases, histone deacetylases, histone acetyltransferases, histone methyltransferases, and histone demethylases. In this review we will focus Oil the chemical aspects Of such molecules joined to their effective (or potential) application in cancer therapy. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

    Targeting histone demethylases: A new avenue for the fight against cancer

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    In addition to genetic disorders, epigenetic alterations have been shown to be involved in cancer, through misregulation of histone modifications. Miswriting, misreading, and mis-erasing of histone acetylation as well as methylation marks can be actually associated with oncogenesis and tumor proliferation. Historically, methylation of Arg and Lys residues has been considered a stable, irreversible process due to the slow turnover of methyl groups in chromatin. The discovery in recent years of a large number of histone Lys demethylases (KDMs, belonging to either the amino oxidase or the JmjC family) totally changed this point of view and suggested a new role for dynamic histone methylation in biological processes. Since overexpression, alteration, or mutation of a number of KDMs has been found in many types of cancers, such enzymes could represent diagnostic tools as well as epigenetic targets to modulate for obtaining novel therapeutic weapons against cancer. The first little steps in this direction are described here. © The Author(s) 2011
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