title: Targeting HDACs: a promising therapy for Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Epigenetic modifications like DNA methylation and histone acetylation play an important role in a wide range of brain disorders. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) regulate the homeostasis of histone acetylation. Histone deacetylase inhibitors, which initially were used as anticancer drugs, are recently suggested to act as neuroprotectors by enhancing synaptic plasticity and learning and memory in a wide range of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). To reveal the physiological roles of HDACs may provide us with a new perspective to understand the mechanism of AD and to develop selective HDAC inhibitors. This paper focuses on the recent research progresses of HDAC proteins and their inhibitors on the roles of the treatment for AD.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xue-Ling
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Han-Chang
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhao-Feng
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D056572:Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006655:Histone Deacetylases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D056572:Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D006655:Histone Deacetylases