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Targeting Huntington's disease through histone deacetylases

Steven G Gray1

  • 1Translational Cancer Research Group, Department of Clinical Medicine, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St James's Hospital, James's Street, Dublin 8, Ireland.

Clinical Epigenetics
|June 19, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Huntington's disease (HD) involves abnormal protein modifications, impacting neurodegeneration. Targeting histone deacetylases offers a potential therapeutic strategy for this condition.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Biochemistry
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Huntington's disease (HD) is a severe neurodegenerative disorder with limited treatment options.
  • Aberrant post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins are increasingly recognized in HD pathogenesis.
  • PTMs like acetylation, phosphorylation, methylation, sumoylation, and ubiquitination are implicated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the evidence linking aberrant PTMs to Huntington's disease.
  • To explore the role of cellular machinery regulating PTMs in HD.
  • To discuss potential therapeutic strategies targeting PTM-regulating proteins.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of current evidence on PTMs in HD.
  • Analysis of the role of protein families regulating PTMs.
  • Examination of therapeutic potential of targeting histone deacetylases.

Main Results:

  • Aberrant PTMs are significantly associated with HD pathogenesis.
  • Dysregulation of PTM-modulating cellular machinery contributes to HD.
  • Histone deacetylases represent a promising therapeutic target.

Conclusions:

  • Targeting aberrant PTMs and their regulatory proteins is crucial for HD treatment.
  • Pharmacological inhibition of histone deacetylases shows therapeutic promise for Huntington's disease.
  • Further research into PTMs could unveil novel treatment avenues for HD.

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