The Vitanza Lab has worked to identify histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors that could be used for the treatment of DIPG, DMG and other life-threatening central nervous system (CNS) tumors.
Histones bind, unwrap or wind up DNA, and play a large role in controlling what genes can be “on” vs “off.” Mutations in these histone proteins are thought to promote cancer growth by allowing cancer-inducing genes to turn “on.” Investigations addressing DMG epigenetics have identified a few promising drugs, including HDAC inhibitor (HDACi) panobinostat. Our lab uses clinically relevant DMG models to identify and validate other effective HDACi and their biomarkers of response. In a recent study, we found that histone inhibitors quisinostat and romidepsin were effective in pre-clinical DIPG animal models.