title: Selective class IIa HDAC inhibitors: myth or reality.
abstract: The prospect of intervening, through the use of a specific molecule, with a cellular alteration responsible for a disease, is a fundamental ambition of biomedical science. Epigenetic-based therapies appear as a remarkable opportunity to impact on several disorders, including cancer. Many efforts have been made to develop small molecules acting as inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACs). These enzymes are key targets to reset altered genetic programs and thus to restore normal cellular activities, including drug responsiveness. Several classes of HDAC inhibitors (HDACis) have been generated, characterized and, in certain cases, approved for the use in clinic. A new frontier is the generation of subtype-specific inhibitors, to increase selectivity and to manage general toxicity. Here we will discuss about a set of molecules, which can interfere with the activity of a specific subclass of HDACs: the class IIa.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Biologiche, Università degli Studi di Udine, P.le Kolbe, 4, 33100, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Eros
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Giorgio
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gagliostro
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brancolini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004194:Disease; D056572:Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006655:Histone Deacetylases / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D056572:Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors; D006655:Histone Deacetylases