Pharmacodynamic markers for histone deacetylase inhibitor development

All of us will be confronted either directly or indirectly with cancer at some point. Factors contributing to the development of this disease include acetylases, deacetylases, fusion proteins, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors and NF-κB. These proteins influence the cellular transcriptome, proteome and signalosome and the outcome of therapies. Small molecule approaches targeting the expression or function of such proteins are highly desired, and histone deacetylase inhibitors may alone or combined with other agents achieve this goal.

Section editors:Thomas Ried – Avalon Pharm., Inc., Germantown, MD, USAReinhard Ebner – Centre for Cancer Research, NCI/NIH