title: The therapeutic uses of chromatin-modifying agents.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Dipartimento di Studi Farmaceutici, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy. antonello.mai@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015195:Drug Design; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D056572:Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors; D000076983:Histone Methyltransferases; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D006801:Humans; D011496:Protein Methyltransferases
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D056572:Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors; D000076983:Histone Methyltransferases; D011496:Protein Methyltransferases; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases