Novel Indications of Epigenetic Therapy in Cancer
A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Genetics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 January 2022) | Viewed by 14716
Special Issue Editor
Interests: regenerative medicine; stem cell therapy; tissue regeneration; cell growth control; cancer; epigenetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Recently, cancer research has undergone a rapid development in novel strategies and efficacious treatments in the realm of oncology. Unfortunately, traditional cancer treatments—such as radiation, cytoreductive surgery, and classic chemotherapy—are not successful at eradicating disease for the majority of patients, especially those who present at advanced stages. In fact, high mortality and treatment failure rates are due to fast-developing chemoresistance. Furthermore, recent studies have exposed a critical role for the tumorigenic microenvironment aiding the support of tumor propagation, metastasis, and chemoresistance. Therefore, there is an imminent need for the development of novel therapeutic strategies that not only improve the efficacy of targeted tumor growth but also the ability to circumvent the grave chemoresistance problem.
Over the last decade, the study of epigenetics in variable types of tumors has gained tremendous attention. Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation and histone deacetylation have led to cancer progression, metastases, and an increase in chemoresistance in various oncologic subtypes. Unlike genetic mutations, which cannot be altered, epigenetically-induced alterations are promising targets. This has led to the advent of histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) and DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTis). Genes encoding epigenetic regulators—both DNMTis and HDACis—are found in cancer and tend to drive tumorigenesis and resistance to standard chemotherapy treatments. Therefore, epigenetic therapy has great potential to not only suppress cancer propagation and metastasis but also to modify the cellular components of the same tumorigenic microenvironment that supports cancer growth, chemoresistance, and metastasis.
Moreover, the presence of aberrant epigenetic modification in tumors presents a unique opportunity for epigenetic therapy in the formulation of novel therapeutic strategies, in which tumor destruction is maximized with minimal damage to healthy tissue, therefore improving oncologic outcomes for cancer patients with less toxic side effects.
This Special Issue of Biomolecules aims to introduce and discuss novel applications of epigenetic therapy for the inhibition of cancer progression and modification of the tumorigenic microenvironment.
Dr. Olga Ostrovsky
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- cancer therapy
- epigenetics
- chemoresistance
- histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis)
- DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTis)
- tumor microenvironment
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