Histone methylation and vascular biology

Abstract

The vasculature not only transports oxygenated blood, metabolites, and waste products but also serves as a conduit for hormonal communication between distant tissues. Therefore, it is important to maintain homeostasis within the vasculature. Recent studies have greatly expanded our understanding of the regulation of vasculature development and vascular-related diseases at the epigenetic level, including by protein posttranslational modifications, DNA methylation, and noncoding RNAs. Integrating epigenetic mechanisms into the pathophysiologic conceptualization of complex and multifactorial vascular-related diseases may provide promising therapeutic approaches. Several reviews have presented detailed discussions of epigenetic mechanisms not including histone methylation in vascular biology. In this review, we primarily discuss histone methylation in vascular development and maturity, and in vascular diseases.

Posttranslational Modifications in Ferroptosis

“…Protein methylation usually occurs on lysine or arginine, and both histones and nonhistone proteins can be methylated [ 104 – 106 ]. A plethora of studies have demonstrated that protein methylation plays an important role in cell survival/death and diseases [ 104 , 107 – 109 ], but the research on their roles in ferroptosis is in its infancy.…”

“…Protein methylation usually occurs on lysine or arginine, and both histones and nonhistone proteins can be methylated [ 104 – 106 ]. A plethora of studies have demonstrated that protein methylation plays an important role in cell survival/death and diseases [ 104 , 107 – 109 ], but the research on their roles in ferroptosis is in its infancy. For example, lysine demethylase 3B (KDM3B), a histone H3K9 demethylase, inhibits erastin-induced ferroptosis by cooperating with the transcription factor activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) to upregulate SLC7A11 expression [ 110 ] ( Figure 4 ).…”

Elucidation of Epigenetic Landscape in Coronary Artery Disease: A Review on Basic Concept to Personalized Medicine

“… 80 Moreover, histone methylation and demethylation have been studied in coronary atherosclerosis widely. 81 …”

DNA Methylation Dysfunction in Chronic Kidney Disease

“…It is well known that macromolecule methylation is a feature pertaining to both DNA and proteins [47,48] with special regard to histones. Recently, histone methylation has become a major hotspot for research on both cancer [49] and vascular diseases [50], which are among the leading causes of mortality [51]. In this respect, it has been proposed that (I) methionine-homocysteine modulates the SAM/SAH ratio and therefore the rate of SAM-dependent methylation under pathological conditions and that (II) hypomethylation on frequently modified histones is involved in the deregulation mechanisms of autoimmune and metabolic disorders, as well as in cardiovascular disease.…”