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Updated: Jun 22, 2025

Author Spotlight: Epigenetic Modifications and Metabolic Rewiring as Targets for Cancer Therapy
Published on: October 18, 2024
Beyond the Usual Suspects: Examining the Role of Understudied Histone Variants in Breast Cancer
Hejer Dhahri1,2, Wesley N Saintilnord1,2,3,4, Darrell Chandler2
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA.
Abstract:
The incorporation of histone variants has structural ramifications on nucleosome dynamics and stability. Due to their unique sequences, histone variants can alter histone-histone or histone-DNA interactions, impacting the folding of DNA around the histone octamer and the overall higher-order structure of chromatin fibers. These structural modifications alter chromatin compaction and accessibility of DNA by transcription factors and other regulatory proteins to influence gene regulatory processes such as DNA damage and repair, as well as transcriptional activation or repression. Histone variants can also generate a unique interactome composed of histone chaperones and chromatin remodeling complexes. Any of these perturbations can contribute to cellular plasticity and the progression of human diseases. Here, we focus on a frequently overlooked group of histone variants lying within the four human histone gene clusters and their contribution to breast cancer.
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