Some cancers have been treated with drugs that inhibit Histone deacetylases (HDACs).
A. Explain how these drugs might work.
B. Do you think the cancer-causing genes that respond to the HDAC inhibitors are likely to be proto-oncogenes or tumor-suppressor genes? Explain your reasoning.
Histone modifications are epigenetic
changes that alter gene expression by affecting the access of RNA
polymerase to the target locus.
Histone acetylation is an activation mark. It is mediated by HATs
(Histone acetyl transferase).
HDAC = Histone deacetylase
HDACs remove acetylation and repress gene expression.
Cancer is characterized by
unregulated cell proliferation.
Protooncogenes promote cell division.
Tumor suppressor genes inhibit cell division.
So, if we use drugs that target
HDACs, we can promote the expression of some of the tumor
suppressor genes that are repressed in the cancer cells.
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