Epigenetics and Cancer Medicine

Epigenetic Therapy

Epigenetic therapy is the use of drugs or other epigenome-influencing techniques to treat medical conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and mental illnesses. Epigenetic therapies are among the most active areas of preclinical and clinical cancer research evidence to their potential of specifically targeting chromatin-mediated disease mechanisms. It is expected that these therapies will have fewer side effects than conventional cytotoxic chemotherapies. Several classes of drugs have emerged, and several are on-going development.

The DNMT inhibitors 5-azacytidine and 5-aza-20-deoxycytidine have both been approved by the FDA for the treatment of various forms of cancer. These drugs have been evident to reactivate the cellular antitumor systems which are repressed by cancer, hence enabling the body to weaken the tumor.