Targeting HDACs in Pediatric Oncology

The analysis of the human acetylome has revealed that about 2000 proteins are regulated through reversible acetylation in a given cell, suggesting that this post-translational modification system may be equally important as protein phosphorylation. The acetylome is at least partially controlled by the human histone deacetylase (HDAC) family consisting of 11 members. It is now becoming clear that this family of enzymes regulate the acetylation status of numerous cellular proteins beyond histones and the term protein/lysine deacetylases has recently been introduced. The contribution of individual HDACs to cancer b…