Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 16, Issue 7, 2016

DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) catalyze the methylation at cytosine-C5 mainly in a CpG dinucleotide context. Although DNA methylation is essential for fundamental processes like embryonic development or differentiation, aberrant expression and/or activities of DNMTs are involved in several pathologies, from neurodegeneration to cancer. DNMTs inhibition can arrest tumor growth, cells invasiveness and induce differe Read More

Post-translational modifications can affect gene expression in a long-term manner without changes in the primary nucleotide sequence of the DNA. These epigenetic alterations involve dynamic processes that occur in histones, chromatin-associated proteins and DNA. In response to environmental stimuli, abnormal epigenetic alterations cause disorders in the cell cycle, apoptosis and other cellular processes and thus Read More

Acetylation is an important, reversible post-translational modification affecting histone and non-histone proteins with critical roles in gene transcription, DNA replication, DNA repair, and cell cycle progression. Key regulatory enzymes include histone deacetylase (HDACs) and histone acetyltransferases (HATs). Overexpressed HDACs have been identified in many human cancers, resulting in repressed chromatin states t Read More

Core histone acetylation is a key prerequisite for chromatin decondensation and plays a pivotal role in regulation of chromatin structure, function and dynamics. The addition of acetyl groups disturbs histone/DNA interactions in the nucleosome and alters histone/histone interactions in the same or adjacent nucleosomes. Acetyl groups can also provide binding sites for recruitment of bromodomain (BRD)-containing non-hist Read More

Despite considerable scientific progress, the burden of cancer in our society remains a major public health problem. Tumorigenesis is recognized as a complex and multistep process that involves the accumulation of successive transformational events with multi-factorial etiology. Nevertheless, such events result in the acquisition of key hallmark characteristics that are shared by all cancer cells. Accumulating evidence indicates Read More

In the absence of a satisfactory treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Among these, immunotherapy offers a series of advantages such as tumor specificity and good tolerability. Unfortunately, MPM immunotherapy is frequently limited by incomplete cell differentiation or feedback loop regulatory mechanisms. In this review, we describe different comp Read More

Nowadays, epigenetic mechanisms involving DNA methylation, histone modifications and microRNA regulation emerge as important players in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Epigenetics may provide the missing link between environment, genome and disease phenotype and be responsible for the strong interindividual variation in disease risk factors underlying CVD. Daily diet is known to have a major influence on both the d Read More