Implication des modifications épigénétiques dans les cancers : développement de nouvelles approches thérapeutiques

Abstract

Involvement of epigenetic modifications in cancers: development of new therapeutic approaches. Since cancer is the second cause of death after cardiovascular diseases in industrialized countries, it is urgent to elaborate new therapeutic approaches. Besides DNA mutations of essential genes, expansion of a cancer cell is frequently associated with epigenetic modifications i.e. not directly coded by the DNA sequence. Amongst epigenetic modifications, histones acetylation and DNA methylation are known to play important roles. In this context, a very promising anticancer therapy would be to correct epigenetic errors using compounds modulating histone acetylation and DNA methylation alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents.

Keywords

• cancer
• DNA methyltransferases inhibitors
• Epigenetics
• histones deacetylases (HDACs) inhibitors