27
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      On the epigenetics of vascular regulation and disease

      review-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Consolidated knowledge is accumulating as to the role of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms in the physiology of vascular development and vascular tone as well as in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. The modulation of gene expression through modification of the epigenome by structural changes of the chromatin architecture without alterations of the associated genomic DNA sequence is part of the cellular response to environmental changes. Such environmental conditions, which are finally being translated into adaptations of the cardiovascular system, also comprise pathological conditions such as atherosclerosis or myocardial infarction. This review summarizes recent findings on the epigenetics of vascular regulation and disease and presents nutritional and pharmacological approaches as novel epigenetic strategies in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

          Related collections

          Most cited references117

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Mammalian sirtuins: biological insights and disease relevance.

          Aging is accompanied by a decline in the healthy function of multiple organ systems, leading to increased incidence and mortality from diseases such as type II diabetes mellitus, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Historically, researchers have focused on investigating individual pathways in isolated organs as a strategy to identify the root cause of a disease, with hopes of designing better drugs. Studies of aging in yeast led to the discovery of a family of conserved enzymes known as the sirtuins, which affect multiple pathways that increase the life span and the overall health of organisms. Since the discovery of the first known mammalian sirtuin, SIRT1, 10 years ago, there have been major advances in our understanding of the enzymology of sirtuins, their regulation, and their ability to broadly improve mammalian physiology and health span. This review summarizes and discusses the advances of the past decade and the challenges that will confront the field in the coming years.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Stability and flexibility of epigenetic gene regulation in mammalian development.

            Wolf Reik (2007)
            During development, cells start in a pluripotent state, from which they can differentiate into many cell types, and progressively develop a narrower potential. Their gene-expression programmes become more defined, restricted and, potentially, 'locked in'. Pluripotent stem cells express genes that encode a set of core transcription factors, while genes that are required later in development are repressed by histone marks, which confer short-term, and therefore flexible, epigenetic silencing. By contrast, the methylation of DNA confers long-term epigenetic silencing of particular sequences--transposons, imprinted genes and pluripotency-associated genes--in somatic cells. Long-term silencing can be reprogrammed by demethylation of DNA, and this process might involve DNA repair. It is not known whether any of the epigenetic marks has a primary role in determining cell and lineage commitment during development.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Histone H4-K16 acetylation controls chromatin structure and protein interactions.

              Acetylation of histone H4 on lysine 16 (H4-K16Ac) is a prevalent and reversible posttranslational chromatin modification in eukaryotes. To characterize the structural and functional role of this mark, we used a native chemical ligation strategy to generate histone H4 that was homogeneously acetylated at K16. The incorporation of this modified histone into nucleosomal arrays inhibits the formation of compact 30-nanometer-like fibers and impedes the ability of chromatin to form cross-fiber interactions. H4-K16Ac also inhibits the ability of the adenosine triphosphate-utilizing chromatin assembly and remodeling enzyme ACF to mobilize a mononucleosome, indicating that this single histone modification modulates both higher order chromatin structure and functional interactions between a nonhistone protein and the chromatin fiber.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Clin Epigenetics
                Clin Epigenetics
                Clinical Epigenetics
                BioMed Central
                1868-7075
                1868-7083
                2012
                23 May 2012
                : 4
                : 1
                : 7
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Saarland University Medical Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Immunotherapy and Gene Therapy, Homburg, Saar, D-66421, Germany
                [2 ]Institute of Occupational and Social Medicine and Health Services Research, University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstrasse 27, D-72074, Tuebingen, Germany
                Article
                1868-7083-4-7
                10.1186/1868-7083-4-7
                3438017
                22621747
                c95f2ea1-95d5-40ad-8007-a6a4ab7bc4b3
                Copyright ©2012 Schleithoff et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http:// http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 3 January 2012
                : 9 March 2012
                Categories
                Review

                Genetics
                vascular regulation,sirtuins,hdac,histone deacetylase,epigenetics,cardiovascular disease
                Genetics
                vascular regulation, sirtuins, hdac, histone deacetylase, epigenetics, cardiovascular disease

                Comments

                Comment on this article