Therapeutic application of histone deacetylase inhibitors for central nervous system disorders

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 month 2 days (www.nature.com)

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) — enzymes that affect the acetylation status of histones and other important cellular proteins — have been recognized as potentially useful therapeutic targets for a broad range of human disorders. Pharmacological manipulations using small-molecule HDAC inhibitors — which may restore transcriptional balance to neurons, modulate cytoskeletal function, affect immune responses and enhance protein degradation pathways — have been beneficial in various experimental models of brain diseases

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: multiple sclerosis MS Freidreich's ataxia Huntington's disease Rett syndrome histones central nervous system CNS central nervous system disorders histone deacetylase inhibitors

Therapeutic application of histone deacetylase inhibitors for central nervous system disorder

jerry submitted, created time 1 month 2 days (www.nature.com)

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) — enzymes that affect the acetylation status of histones and other important cellular proteins — have been recognized as potentially useful therapeutic targets for a broad range of human disorders. Pharmacological manipulations using small-molecule HDAC inhibitors — which may restore transcriptional balance to neurons, modulate cytoskeletal function, affect immune responses and enhance protein degradation pathways — have been beneficial in various experimental models of brain diseases

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: multiple sclerosis MS Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome Freidreich's ataxia Rett syndrome Huntington's Huntington's disease central nervous system CNS histones HDAC histone deacetylase

Stem cell meeting 2008: complications for induced pluripotent stem cells

sea-maid submitted, created time 3 months 4 weeks (www.nature.com)

This year's meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, included a jam-packed session on the standards and methodologies of creating induced pluripotent stem cells. But although excitement around advances in reprogramming somatic cells shows no signs of abating, new ideas regarding the field are surfacing.

One announcement in particular may have consequences for induced pluripotent stem cells: It seems that ever reprogrammed cells can retain some echoes of their differentiated states, which researchers have nicknamed "cellular memory

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: embryonic stem cells histones ethics induced pluripotent stem cells politics cellular memory stem cells

MOF is a Key Regulator of Dosage Compensation and Gene Expression in Drosophila

kavin submitted, created time 5 months 2 weeks (www.cell.com)

Here the researchers report that the histone H4 lysine 16 (H4K16) specific histone acetyltransferase MOF displays differential binding behavior depending on whether the target gene is located on the X chromosome versus the autosomes. In conclusion, MOF is not only involved in the onset of dosage compensation, but also acts as a regulator of gene expression in the Drosophila genome.

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: automsome sex chromesomes gender x-chromesome histones Drosophila Genome-wide Analysis MOF

Histone Crosstalk between H2B Monoubiquitination and H3 Methylation Mediated by COMPASS

kavin submitted, created time 11 months 1 week (www.cell.com)

"COMPASS, the yeast homolog of the mammalian MLL complex, is a histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) methylase consisting of Set1 (KMT2) and seven other polypeptides, including Cps35, the only essential subunit. Histone H2B monoubiquitination by Rad6/Bre1 is required for both H3K4 methylation by COMPASS, and H3K79 methylation by Dot1. However, the molecular mechanism for such histone crosstalk is poorly understood. Here, they demonstrate that histone H2B monoubiquitination controls the binding of Cps35 with COMPASS complex

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: histone acetylation histone-modification maps DNA crosstalk histone methyltransferase histones