The Roles of Histone Deacetylases and Their Inhibitors in Cancer Therapy

Overview

Journal Front Cell Dev Biol

Specialty Cell Biology

Date 2020 Oct 29

PMID 33117804

Citations 145

Authors

Guo Li

Yuan Tian

Wei-Guo Zhu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Genetic mutations and abnormal gene regulation are key mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis. Nucleosomes, which consist of DNA wrapped around histone cores, represent the basic units of chromatin. The fifth amino group (N) of histone lysine residues is a common site for post-translational modifications (PTMs), and of these, acetylation is the second most common. Histone acetylation is modulated by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs), and is involved in the regulation of gene expression. Over the past two decades, numerous studies characterizing HDACs and HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) have provided novel and exciting insights concerning their underlying biological mechanisms and potential anti-cancer treatments. In this review, we detail the diverse structures of HDACs and their underlying biological functions, including transcriptional regulation, metabolism, angiogenesis, DNA damage response, cell cycle, apoptosis, protein degradation, immunity and other several physiological processes. We also highlight potential avenues to use HDACi as novel, precision cancer treatments.

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