title: The roles of retinoic acid and retinoic acid receptors in inducing epigenetic changes.
abstract: Epigenetics is "the branch of biology which studies the causal interactions between genes and their products which bring the phenotype into being" as defined by Conrad Waddington in 1942 in a discussion of the mechanisms of cell differentiation. More than seven decades later we know that these mechanisms include histone tail post-translational modifications, DNA methylation, ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling, and non-coding RNA pathways. Epigenetic modifications are powerful drugs targets, and combined targeting of multiple pathways is expected to significantly advance cancer therapy.
authors: Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10065, USA, alu2004@med.cornell.edu.
authors: Alison
authors: A
authors: Urvalek
authors: Kristian Bruun
authors: KB
authors: Laursen
authors: Lorraine J
authors: LJ
authors: Gudas
mesh_terms: D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D006657:Histones / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011485:Protein Binding; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D047488:Retinoid X Receptors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D006657:Histones; D022661:RNA, Untranslated; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid; D047488:Retinoid X Receptors; D014212:Tretinoin