HDACis (class I), cancer stem cell, and phytochemicals: Cancer therapy and prevention implications

Abstract Epigenetics is independent of the sequence events that physically affect the condensing of chromatin and genes expression. The unique epigenetic memories of various cells trigger exclusive gene expression profiling. According to different studies, the aberrant epigenetic signatures and impaired gene expression profiles are master occurrences in cancer cells in which oncogene and tumor suppressor genes are affected. Owing to the facts that epigenetic modifications are performed earlier than expression and are reversible, the epigenetic reprogramming of cancer cells could be applied potentially for their prevention, control, and therapy. The disruption of the acetylation signature, as a master epigenetic change in cancers, is related to the expression and the activity of HDACs. In this context, class I HDACs play a significant role in the regulation of cell proliferation and cancer. More recently, cancer stem cell (CSC) has been introduced as a minority population of tumor that is responsible for invasiveness, drug resistance, and relapse of cancers. It is now believed that controlling CSC via epigenetic reprogramming such as targeting HDACs could be helpful in regulating the acetylation pattern of chromatin. Recently, a number of reports have introduced some phytochemicals as HDAC inhibitors. The use of phytochemicals with the HDAC inhibition property could be potentially efficient in overcoming the mentioned problems of CSCs. This review presents a perspective concerning HDAC-targeted phytochemicals to control CSC in tumors. Hopefully, this new route would have more advantages in therapeutic applications and prevention against cancer.