Natural Products and Chemical Biology Tools: Alternatives to Target Epigenetic Mechanisms in Cancers

Abstract

DNA methylation and histone acetylation are widely studied epigenetic modifications. They are involved in numerous pathologies such as cancer, neurological disease, inflammation, obesity, etc. Since the discovery of the epigenome, numerous compounds have been developed to reverse DNA methylation and histone acetylation aberrant profile in diseases. Among them several were inspired by Nature and have a great interest as therapeutic molecules. In the quest of finding new ways to target epigenetic mechanisms, the use of chemical tools is a powerful strategy to better understand epigenetic mechanisms in biological systems. In this review we will present natural products reported as DNMT or HDAC inhibitors for anticancer treatments. We will then discuss the use of chemical tools that have been used in order to explore the epigenome.