Manipulating protein acetylation in breast cancer: a promising approach in combination with hormonal therapies?

Aurélien Linares (1) , Florence Dalenc (2) , Patrick Balaguer (1) , Nathalie Boulle (1, 3) , Vincent Cavailles (1)

1 IRCM - U896 Inserm - UM1 - Institut de recherche en cancérologie de Montpellier
2 Institut Claudius Regaud
3 Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire et Hormonale

Estrogens play an essential role in the normal physiology of the breast as well as in mammary tumorigenesis. Their effects are mediated by two nuclear estrogen receptors, ERα and β, which regulate transcription of specific genes by interacting with multiprotein complexes, including histone deacetylases (HDACs). During the past few years, HDACs have raised great interest as therapeutic targets in the field of cancer therapy. In breast cancer, several experimental arguments suggest that HDACs are involved at multiple levels in mammary tumorigenesis: their expression is deregulated in breast tumors; they interfere with ER signaling in intricate ways, restoring hormone sensitivity in models of estrogen resistance, and they clinically represent new potential targets for HDACs inhibitors (HDIs) in combination with hormonal therapies. In this paper, we will describe these different aspects and underline the clinical interest of HDIs in the context of breast cancer resistance to hormone therapies (HTs).

Domaines: Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire; Cancer

Aurélien Linares, Florence Dalenc, Patrick Balaguer, Nathalie Boulle, Vincent Cavailles. Manipulating protein acetylation in breast cancer: a promising approach in combination with hormonal therapies?. Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, 2011, 2011, pp.856985. ⟨10.1155/2011/856985⟩. ⟨inserm-00555553⟩