Title:CEBP Epigenetic Dysregulation as a Drug Target for the Treatment of Hematologic and Gynecologic Malignancies
Volume: 18
Issue: 10
Author(s): Chengming Sun, Ping Duan and Caifu Luan*
Affiliation:
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai,China
Keywords:
CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins, C/EBP, gynecologic cancer, hematologic malignancies, hypermethylation,
epigenatic dysregulation.
Abstract: Background: The CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins (C/EBPs) form a family of transcription
factors regulating many genes’ expression in a variety of cells/tissues/organs at different developmental
stages. With their capability of binding to their cognate DNA elements and through protein-protein interactions,
C/EBPs modulate diverse functions including cell differentiation, metabolism, and immune response,
under both physiological and pathological conditions such as the establishment of hematological lineages,
the maintenance of normal reproductive function, and the development of malignancies.
Objectives: This review concentrates on the role(s) and epigenetic alterations of C/EBP genes in hematologic
malignancies and gynecologic organs and disorders. New research findings on molecular pathways
involved in C/EBP function and regulation are reviewed and analyzed. The potential therapeutic values of
these findings are also discussed.
Conclusion: Unlike in hematologic malignancies in which C/EBP mutations and their disruption of wild
type C/EBP tumor suppressive activities have been well documented, mutation of C/EBP does not appear
to be a common event in gynecologic cancers, raising some doubt if C/EBPs may have tumor suppressor
activity in gynecologic cancers. However, this notion could not exclude the possibility that downregulation
or DNA methylation-meditated epigenetic silencing of C/EBPs may contribute to the development of gynecologic
malignancies.
