Histone profiles in cancer

Abstract

While DNA abnormalities have long been recognized as the cause of cancer, the contribution of chromatin is a relatively recent discovery. Excitement in the field of cancer epigenetics is driven by 3 key elements: 1. Chromatin may play an active and often critical role in controlling gene expression, DNA stability and cell identity. 2. Chromatin modifiers are frequent targets of DNA aberrations, in some cancers reaching near 100%. Particularly in cancers with low rates of DNA mutations, the key "driver" of malignancy is often a chromatin modifier. 3. Cancer-associated aberrant chromatin is amenable to pharmacologic modulation. This has sparked the rapidly expanding development of small molecules targeting chromatin modifiers or reader domains, several of which have shown promise in clinical trials. In parallel, technical advances have greatly enhanced our ability to perform comprehensive chromatin/histone profiling. Despite the discovery that distinct histone profiles are associated with prognostic subgroups, and in some instances may point towards an underlying aberration that can be targeted, histone profiling has not entered clinical diagnostics. Even eligibility for clinical trials targeting chromatin hinges on traditional histologic or DNA-based molecular criteria rather than chromatin profiles. This review will give an overview of the philosophical debate around the role of histones in controlling or modulating gene expression and discuss the most common techniques for histone profiling. In addition, we will provide prominent examples of aberrantly expressed or mutated chromatin modifiers that result in either globally or locally aberrant histone profiles, and that may be promising therapeutic targets.

Keywords: Cancer; Chromatin; Epigenetic modifiers; Histone profiles; Therapy.