Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 16, Issue 7, 2016

DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) catalyze the methylation at cytosine-C5 mainly in a CpG dinucleotide context. Although DNA methylation is essential for fundamental processes like embryonic development or differentiation, aberrant expression and/or activities of DNMTs are involved in several pathologies, from neurodegeneration to cancer. DNMTs inhibition can arrest tumor growth, cells invasiveness and induce differentiation, whereas their increased expression is shown in numerous cancer types. Moreover, hypermethylated promoters of tumor suppressor genes lead to their silencing. Hence, the use of specific inhibitors of DNMT might reactivate those genes and stop or even reverse the aberrant cell processes. To date, the only approved DNMTs inhibitors for therapy belong to the nucleoside-based family of drugs, but they display relevant side effects as well as high chemical instability. Thus, there is a keen interest actually exists to develop novel, potent and safe inhibitors possessing a nonnucleoside structure. Increasing literature evidence is highlighting that natural sources could help the researchers to achieve this goal. Indeed, several polyphenols, flavonoids, antraquinones, and others are described able to inhibit DNMTs activity and/or expression, thus decreasing the methylation/silencing of different genes involved in tumorigenesis. These events can lead to re-expression of such genes and to cell death in diverse cancer cell lines. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (1) and laccaic acid A (11) resulted the most effective DNMT1 inhibitors with submicromolar IC50 values, acting as competitive inhibitors. Compound 1 and 11 both displayed gene demethylation and re-activation in several cancers. However, all of the natural compounds described in this review showed important results, from gene reactivation to cell growth inhibition. Moreover, some of them displayed interesting activity even in rodent cancer models and very recently entered clinical trials .

Post-translational modifications can affect gene expression in a long-term manner without changes in the primary nucleotide sequence of the DNA. These epigenetic alterations involve dynamic processes that occur in histones, chromatin-associated proteins and DNA. In response to environmental stimuli, abnormal epigenetic alterations cause disorders in the cell cycle, apoptosis and other cellular processes and thus contribute to the incidence of diverse diseases, including cancers. In this review, we will summarize recent studies focusing on certain epigenetic readers, writers, and erasers associated with cancer development and how newly discovered natural compounds and their derivatives could interact with these targets. These advances provide insights into epigenetic alterations in cancers and the potential utility of these alterations as therapeutic targets for the future development of chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic drugs.

Acetylation is an important, reversible post-translational modification affecting histone and non-histone proteins with critical roles in gene transcription, DNA replication, DNA repair, and cell cycle progression. Key regulatory enzymes include histone deacetylase (HDACs) and histone acetyltransferases (HATs). Overexpressed HDACs have been identified in many human cancers, resulting in repressed chromatin states that interfere with vital tumor suppressor functions. Inhibition of HDAC activity has been pursued as a mechanism for re-activating repressed genes in cancers, with some HDAC inhibitors showing promise in the clinical setting. Dietary compounds and their metabolites also have been shown to modulate HDAC activity or expression. Out of this body of research, attention increasingly has shifted towards non-histone targets of HDACs and HATs, such as transcriptions factors, hormone receptors, DNA repair proteins, and cytoskeletal components. These aspects are covered in present review, along with the possible clinical significance. Where such data are available, examples are cited from the literature of studies with short chain fatty acids, polyphenols, isoflavones, indoles, organosulfur compounds, organoselenium compounds, sesquiterpene lactones, isoflavones, and various miscellaneous agents. By virtue of their effects on both histone and non-histone proteins, dietary chemopreventive agents modulate the cellular acetylome in ways that are only now becoming apparent. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms will likely enhance the potential to more effectively combat diseases harboring altered epigenetic landscapes and dysregulated protein signaling.

Core histone acetylation is a key prerequisite for chromatin decondensation and plays a pivotal role in regulation of chromatin structure, function and dynamics. The addition of acetyl groups disturbs histone/DNA interactions in the nucleosome and alters histone/histone interactions in the same or adjacent nucleosomes. Acetyl groups can also provide binding sites for recruitment of bromodomain (BRD)-containing non-histone readers and regulatory complexes to chromatin allowing them to perform distinct downstream functions. The presence of a particular acetylation pattern influences appearance of other histone modifications in the immediate vicinity forming the “histone code”. Although the roles of the acetylation of particular lysine residues for the ongoing chromatin functions is largely studied, the epigenetic inheritance of histone acetylation is a debated issue. The dynamics of local or global histone acetylation is associated with fundamental cellular processes such as gene transcription, DNA replication, DNA repair or chromatin condensation. Therefore, it is an essential part of the epigenetic cell response to processes related to internal and external signals.

Despite considerable scientific progress, the burden of cancer in our society remains a major public health problem. Tumorigenesis is recognized as a complex and multistep process that involves the accumulation of successive transformational events with multi-factorial etiology. Nevertheless, such events result in the acquisition of key hallmark characteristics that are shared by all cancer cells. Accumulating evidence indicates that, besides genetic alterations, epigenetic mechanisms (heritable changes in gene expression caused by modifications in chromatin structure without alterations of DNA sequence) are implicated in the acquisition of malignant phenotype. The potential reversibility of epigenetic alterations linked to tumorigenesis offers a promising avenue for therapeutic intervention. This review focuses on the epigenetic regulation of the cancer hallmarks and the foreseeable use of epigenetic drugs to target these features as a promising strategy for anti-cancer therapy. Based on this body of evidence, we believe that epigenetic deregulations can affect virtually all cell functions and therefore therapeutic approaches with epigenetic drugs could allow multi-target approach against the hallmarks of cancer.

In the absence of a satisfactory treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Among these, immunotherapy offers a series of advantages such as tumor specificity and good tolerability. Unfortunately, MPM immunotherapy is frequently limited by incomplete cell differentiation or feedback loop regulatory mechanisms. In this review, we describe different components of the innate immune system and discuss strategies to improve MPM immunotherapy by using epigenetic modulators.

Nowadays, epigenetic mechanisms involving DNA methylation, histone modifications and microRNA regulation emerge as important players in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Epigenetics may provide the missing link between environment, genome and disease phenotype and be responsible for the strong interindividual variation in disease risk factors underlying CVD. Daily diet is known to have a major influence on both the development and the prevention of CVD. Interestingly, the dietary lifestyle of our (grand)parents and of us contributes to CVD risk by metabolic (re)programming of our epigenome in utero, after birth or during life. In contrast to genetic mutations, the plasticity of CVD related epigenetic changes makes them attractive candidates for nutritional prevention or pharmacological intervention. Although a growing number of epidemiologic studies have shown a link between the ingestion of nutritional polyphenols and cardiovascular health benefits, potential involvement of epigenetic mechanisms has been underexplored. In this review, we will give an overview of epigenetic alterations in atherosclerosis, with the focus on DNA and histone modifications by chromatin-modifying proteins. Finally, we illustrate that cocoa flavanols and other classes of dietary molecules may promote cardiovascular health by targeting multiple classes of chromatin writer-reader-eraser proteins related to histone acetylation-methylation and DNA methylation.