Epi-Drugs and Epi-miRs: Moving Beyond Current Cancer Therapies

Title:Epi-Drugs and Epi-miRs: Moving Beyond Current Cancer Therapies

Volume: 16 Issue: 9

Author(s): Reza Salarinia, Amirhossein Sahebkar, Mostafa Peyvandi, Hamid Reza Mirzaei, Mahmoud Reza Jaafari, Maryam Matbou Riahi, Hamed Ebrahimnejad, Javid Sadri Nahand, Jamshid Hadjati, Mobina Ostadi Asrami, Sara Fadaei, Rasoul Salehi and Hamed Mirzaei

Affiliation:

Keywords: Cancer epigenetics, DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, Epi-drugs, Epi-miRs, Histone deacetylase inhibitor.

Abstract: Epigenetic modifications determine phenotypic characteristics in a reversible, stable and genotype-independent manner. Epigenetic modifications mainly encompass CpG island methylation and histone modifications, both being important in the pathogenesis of malignancies. The reversibility of epigenetic phenomenon provides a suitable therapeutic option that is reactivation of epigenetically silenced tumor-suppressor genes. Inhibition of DNA methyltransferase, histone deacetylase and Aurora B kinase, individually or collectively, could feasibly prevent or reverse the impact of epigenetic silencing. MicroRNAs [miRNAs] are an important layer of epigenetic controlling of gene expression, and serve as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers as well as treatment targets for several types of cancer. miRNAs are involved inepigenetically silencing or activation of genes, tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes, and their modulation opens new horizons for designing novel cancer therapeutic agents.

Cite this article as:

Salarinia Reza, Sahebkar Amirhossein, Peyvandi Mostafa, Mirzaei Reza Hamid, Jaafari Reza Mahmoud, Riahi Matbou Maryam, Ebrahimnejad Hamed, Nahand Sadri Javid, Hadjati Jamshid, Asrami Ostadi Mobina, Fadaei Sara, Salehi Rasoul and Mirzaei Hamed, Epi-Drugs and Epi-miRs: Moving Beyond Current Cancer Therapies, Current Cancer Drug Targets 2016; 16 (9) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1568009616666151207110143