Title:Targeting Epigenetics in Nervous System Disease
VOLUME: 12 ISSUE: 1
Author(s):Ruihan Zhang, Junyan Lu, Xiangqian Kong, Lu Jin and Cheng Luo
Affiliation:State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
Keywords:DNA methyltransferase, epigenetics, glioma, histone deacetylase, histone methyltransferase, nervous system
disease, neurodevelopmental disease, neurodegenerative disease
Abstract:Epigenetics is key to understanding modulation of gene expression at specific stages and conditions in nervous
system development and function. In epigenetic processes, a variety of enzymes contribute to modify chromatin with
methyl, acetyl or other chemical marks, leading to repression or activation of the targeted gene without altering the
original sequence. Aberrant activities of these epigenetic enzymes are implicated in many nervous system diseases,
including neurodevelopmental disorders, brain cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and mental illnesses. Thus, they have
emerged as new targets for treating a variety of nervous system disorders. In this review, we briefly summarize the
association between various epigenetic mechanisms and discuss recent progress in drug discovery efforts involving
epigenetic regulators.
