Several substances inhibiting so-called HDAC enzymes have been
studied in trials searching for new anti-cancer drugs in recent
years. “Trials have shown that HDAC inhibitors are very
effective in arresting growth of cultured cancer cells. But
apart from a very rare type of lymphoma, these drugs
unfortunately do not clinically affect malignant tumors,” says
Prof. Dr. Olaf Witt, who heads a research department at German
Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and is pediatrician at the Center
for Child and Adolescent Medicine of Heidelberg University
Hospital. HDAC11 is a novel drug target in carcinomas is
published in the International Journal of Cancer. In the cell,
histone deacetylases (HDAC) are responsible for removing small
chemical tags called acetyl groups from histone proteins.
Histones serve as coils the genetic material wraps around in the
nucleus. The presence or absence of acetyl tags determines where
genetic material is accessible and can get transcribed. Now this
is where Witt and his colleagues suspect th