title: Variants of core histones and their roles in cell fate decisions, development and cancer.
abstract: Histone variants endow chromatin with unique properties and show a specific genomic distribution that is regulated by specific deposition and removal machineries. These variants - in particular, H2A.Z, macroH2A and H3.3 - have important roles in early embryonic development, and they regulate the lineage commitment of stem cells, as well as the converse process of somatic cell reprogramming to pluripotency. Recent progress has also shed light on how mutations, transcriptional deregulation and changes in the deposition machineries of histone variants affect the process of tumorigenesis. These alterations promote or even drive cancer development through mechanisms that involve changes in epigenetic plasticity, genomic stability and senescence, and by activating and sustaining cancer-promoting gene expression programmes.
authors.affiliation: Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, Campus Institut Català d'Oncologia - Germans Trias i Pujol, Campus Can Ruti, 08916 Badalona, Spain.|Program for Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer, Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute, 08916 Badalona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buschbeck
authors.affiliation: Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich and Department of Molecular Biology, BioMedical Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.|Present address: Institute for Genetics, Justus Liebig University Giessen, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Hake
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D042421:Histone Code; D006657:Histones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D006657:Histones; D009707:Nucleosomes