Targeting HDACs: A Promising Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Epigenetic modifications like DNA methylation and histone acetylation play an important role in a wide range of brain disorders. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) regulate the homeostasis of histone acetylation. Histone deacetylase inhibitors, which initially were used as anticancer drugs, are recently suggested to act as neuroprotectors by enhancing synaptic plasticity and learning and memory in a wide range of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). To reveal the physiological roles of HDACs may provide us with a new perspective to understand the mechanism of AD and to develop selective HDAC inhibitors. This paper focuses on the recent research progresses of HDAC proteins and their inhibitors on the roles of the treatment for AD.

Biophenols of mints: Antioxidant, acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase and histone deacetylase inhibition activities targeting Alzheimer’s disease treatment

“…Abnormal acetylation of histone is also involved in the pathology of AD (Xu et al, 2011). Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have been recently suggested to act as neuroprotectors by enhancing synaptic plasticity and learning and memory in a wide range of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, such as AD (Xu et al, 2011).…”

“…Abnormal acetylation of histone is also involved in the pathology of AD. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have been reported to improve memory and cognition in the mouse model of AD (Xu, Dai, Huang, & Jiang, 2011).…”

Beneficial effects of sodium butyrate in 6-OHDA induced neurotoxicity and behavioral abnormalities: Modulation of histone deacetylase activity

“…Histone deacetylases (HDACs) along with histone acetyltransferases (HATs) are the enzymes that regulate the homeostasis of histone acetylation. Inhibitors of HDACs, which were initially characterized as anticancer drugs, are recently suggested to act as neuroprotective agents in a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), PD and Huntington's disease (HD) [2,[4][5][6]. Moreover, we have previously demonstrated the beneficial effects of HDAC inhibitors in various animal models of cognitive deficits and AD [7,8].…”

Systemic and Cell-Type Specific Profiling of Molecular Changes in Parkinson`s Disease

“…Histone modifications (e.g., acetylation by histone acetyl transferase or deacetylation by histone deacetylase) can result in the opening or closing of promoter regions where transcription factors will have access to regulate gene expression 31,35 . The DNA element or sequence can be studied by using chromatin immunoprecipitation technology followed by oligo chip microarray or direct sequencing.…”