Histone modifying and chromatin remodelling enzymes in cancer and dysplastic syndromes

Chromatin-modifying enzymes in transcription and cancer

In recent years, our view of how gene expression is controlled has changed dramatically. The discovery of enzymes that modify histones has revealed that transcription is an enzymically driven process. Such modifications can recruit specific proteins and mediate chromatin changes that affect transcription either positively or negatively. Important biological pathways leading to cell proliferatio...

SnapShot: Histone-Modifying Enzymes

Co-Regulation of Histone-Modifying Enzymes in Cancer

Cancer is characterized by aberrant patterns of expression of multiple genes. These major shifts in gene expression are believed to be due to not only genetic but also epigenetic changes. The epigenetic changes are communicated through chemical modifications, including histone modifications. However, it is unclear whether the binding of histone-modifying proteins to genomic regions and the plac...

Chromatin regulation in schistosomes and histone modifying enzymes as drug targets.

Only one drug is currently available for the treatment and control of schistosomiasis and the increasing risk of selecting strains of schistosome that are resistant to praziquantel means that the development of new drugs is urgent. With this objective we have chosen to target the enzymes modifying histones and in particular the histone acetyltransferases and histone deacetylases (HDAC). Inhibit...

New Nomenclature for Chromatin-Modifying Enzymes

In the last ten years, the importance of chromatin modifications in many aspects of biology has become apparent. Several families of enzymes that modify histones have been identified, the majority of which are conserved throughout evolution. The enormous interest in this field has resulted in a very rapid rate of discovery of new enzymes, but this in turn has lead to a noncoherent nomenclature ...