In HeLa cells which have been exposed to 5 mM sodium butyrate for 21 h, the level of histone acetylation is greatly increased as compared to control cells (Riggs, M.G., Whittaker, R.G., Neumann, J.R., and Ingram, V.R. (1977) Nature 268, 462-464). Our experiments indicate that the increase in the relative amounts of multiacetylated forms of histones H4 and H3 following butyrate treatment is the ...

DNA methylation and histone acetylation are two well known epigenetic chromatin modifications. Epigenetic agents leading to DNA hypomethylation and histone hyperacetylation have been approved for treatment of hematological disorders. The first histone deacetylase inhibitor, vorinostat, has been licensed for cutaneous T cell lymphoma treatment. More than 11 new epigenetic agents are in various s...

Histone acetylation is essential for hippocampal memory formation in young adult rodents. Although dysfunctional histone acetylation has been associated with age-related memory decline in male rodents, little is known about whether histone acetylation is altered by aging in female rodents. In young female mice, the ability of 17β-estradiol (E2) to enhance object recognition memory consolidation...

Histone deacetylase inhibitors represent a promising new class of compounds for the treatment of cancer. Inhibitors of this kind currently under clinical evaluation mainly target the classical (Rpd3/Hda1) family of histone deacetylases. Of particular note, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first histone deacetylase inhibitor (Zolinza: Merck and Co., Whitehouse Station,...

Histone acetyltransferase and histone deacetylase are enzymes responsible for histone acetylation and deacetylation, respectively, in which the histones are acetylated and deacetylated on lysine residues in the N-terminal tail and on the surface of the nucleosome core. These processes are considered the most important epigenetic mechanisms for remodeling the chromatin structure and controlling ...

Histone deacetylases are set of enzymes that have been of interest in drug discovery for the last more than 3 decades. They are responsible for cleaving of acetyl groups from acetyl-lysine residues in histones and various non-histone proteins. Histone deacetylase inhibition is a contemporary, clinically validated therapeutic tactic for cancer treatment. Hydroxamic acid derivatives are among the...

Hormonal therapy resistance remains a considerable barrier in the treatment of breast cancer. Activation of the Akt-PI3K-mTOR pathway plays an important role in hormonal therapy resistance. Our recent preclinical and clinical studies showed that the addition of a histone deacetylase inhibitor re-sensitized hormonal therapy resistant breast cancer to tamoxifen. As histone deacetylases are key re...

Sir2p is an NAD(+)-dependent histone deacetylase required for chromatin-dependent silencing in yeast. In a cell-based screen for inhibitors of Sir2p, we identified a compound, splitomicin, that creates a conditional phenocopy of a sir2 deletion mutant in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cells grown in the presence of the drug have silencing defects at telomeres, silent mating-type loci, and the riboso...

Previously, we found that Rb can actively repress transcription of cell cycle genes by binding and inactivating transcription factors at the promoter. Here, we demonstrate that Rb can also repress transcription of endogenous cell cycle genes containing E2F sites through recruitment of histone deacetylase, which deacetylates histones on the promoter, thereby promoting formation of nucleosomes th...