Articles

Interaction of SET domains with histones and nucleic acid structures in active chromatin

Changes in the normal program of gene expression are the basis for a number of human diseases. Epigenetic control of gene expression is programmed by chromatin modifications—the inheritable “histone code”—the ...

Authors: Wladyslaw A. Krajewski and Oleg L. Vassiliev

Molecular marks for epigenetic identification of developmental and cancer stem cells

Epigenetic regulations of genes by reversible methylation of DNA (at the carbon-5 of cytosine) and numerous reversible modifications of histones play important roles in normal physiology and development, and e...

Authors: Samir Kumar Patra, Moonmoon Deb and Aditi Patra

The possibility of evidence-based psychiatry: depression as a case

Considering psychiatry as a medical discipline, a diagnosis identifying a disorder should lead to an effective therapy. Such presumed causality is the basis of evidence-based psychiatry. We examined the streng...

Authors: Drozdstoy Stojanov, Jakob Korf, Peter de Jonge and Georgi Popov

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in recent clinical trials for cancer therapy

Heritable changes in gene expression that are not based upon alterations in the DNA sequence are defined as epigenetics. The most common mechanisms of epigenetic regulation are the methylation of CpG islands w...

Authors: Julia M. Wagner, Björn Hackanson, Michael Lübbert and Manfred Jung

Epigenetic targets of bioactive dietary components for cancer prevention and therapy

The emergent interest in cancer epigenetics stems from the fact that epigenetic modifications are implicated in virtually every step of tumorigenesis. More interestingly, epigenetic changes are reversible heri...

Authors: Syed M. Meeran, Amiya Ahmed and Trygve O. Tollefsbol

Cancer: evolutionary, genetic and epigenetic aspects

There exist two paradigms about the nature of cancer. According to the generally accepted one, cancer is a by-product of design limitations of a multi-cellular organism (Greaves, Nat Rev Cancer 7:213–221, 2007...

Authors: Anatoly V. Lichtenstein

Introductory editorial

Authors: Ulrich Mahlknecht and Jean-Pierre Issa

The sirtuins in the pathogenesis of cancer

Aging is the natural trace that time leaves behind on life during blossom and maturation, culminating in senescence and death. This process is accompanied by a decline in the healthy function of multiple organ...

Authors: Susanne Voelter-Mahlknecht and Ulrich Mahlknecht

Histone deacetylase inhibitors: clinical implications for hematological malignancies

Histone modifications have widely been implicated in cancer development and progression and are potentially reversible by drug treatments. The N-terminal tails of each histone extend outward through the DNA st...

Authors: Francesco Paolo Tambaro, Carmela Dell’Aversana, Vincenzo Carafa, Angela Nebbioso, Branka Radic, Felicetto Ferrara and Lucia Altucci

Targeting the epigenome: effects of epigenetic treatment strategies on genomic stability in healthy human cells

Epigenetic treatment concepts have long been ascribed as being tumour-selective. Over the last decade, it has become evident that epigenetic mechanisms are essential for a wide range of intracellular functions...

Authors: Jan C. Purrucker and Ulrich Mahlknecht

DNA hypermethylation markers of poor outcome in laryngeal cancer

This study examined molecular (DNA hypermethylation), clinical, histopathological, demographical, smoking, and alcohol variables to assess diagnosis (early versus late stage) and prognosis (survival) outcomes ...

Authors: Josena K. Stephen, Kang Mei Chen, Veena Shah, Shaleta Havard, Alissa Kapke, Mei Lu, Michael S. Benninger and Maria J. Worsham

Continuous multiparametric monitoring of cell metabolism in response to transient overexpression of the sirtuin deacetylase SIRT3

The analysis and visualisation of research data in an environment which is most similar to living conditions belong to the most challenging claims of present scientific research endeavours. To date, the effect...

Authors: Christian-Lars Dransfeld, Hamed Alborzinia, Stefan Wölfl and Ulrich Mahlknecht

Histone deacetylases in viral infections

Chromatin remodeling and gene expression are regulated by histone deacetylases (HDACs) that condense the chromatin structure by deacetylating histones. HDACs comprise a group of enzymes that are responsible fo...

Authors: Georges Herbein and Daniel Wendling

Histone deacetylase inhibitors: a new and promising drug class for the treatment of arthritis?

Authors: Éric Toussirot, Kashif Aziz Khan and Georges Herbein

Challenge and promise: the role of miRNA for pathogenesis and progression of malignant melanoma

microRNAs are endogenous noncoding RNAs that are implicated in gene regulation. More recently, miRNAs have been shown to play a pivotal role in multiple cellular processes that interfere with tumorigenesis. He...

Authors: Salma Essa, N. Denzer, U. Mahlknecht, R. Klein, E. M. Collnot and J. Reichrath