Abstract
Abstract Epigenetic mechanisms based on DNA methylation, histone modifications and RNA interference have recently showed important association to the development of a wide variety of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic, skin, autoimmune diseases and neurologic disorders. In the context of preventive aspects, the importance of nutrition on epigenetic function has been revealed. Therefore, drastic changes in dietary modifications may contribute to reduced disease risk. For instance, dietary intervention has been showed to affect DNA methylation in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Moreover, maternal high-fat diet can regulate gene expression through promoter histone modifications. Most importantly, RNA interference and particularly micro-RNA mediated regulation of gene expression has been linked to disease development. Remarkably, dietary intake has been demonstrated to significantly affect various miRNAs and their regulation on gene function. In this review, the relationship between epigenetics and disease and development of drugs based on epigenetic targets is presented as well as the influence of dietary intake on epigenetic mechanisms and its effect on disease prevention and therapy will be discussed.
Highlights
The importance of nutrition in relation to disease prevention and therapeutic interventions has become evident during the past few years
ACHBFL, acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure; AML, acute myeloid leukemia; CH, cardiac hypertrophy; CTCL, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma; DNA MT, DNA methyltransferase;; HDACs, histone deacetylases; hepatitis stellate cell (HSC), hepatic stellate cells; MS, multiple sclerosis; NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; NASH, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; PASI, psoriasis area severity index; PH, pulmonary hypertension; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; Cancer Altered DNA methylation has been suggested as the epigenetic mechanism associated with cancer [16]
Epigenetic mechanisms have been frequently linked to a wide spectrum of disease indications and provide novel and attractive means for therapeutic interventions
Summary
The importance of nutrition in relation to disease prevention and therapeutic interventions has become evident during the past few years. New findings have closely linked epigenetic mechanisms to disease development, which can be substantially affected by dietary interventions and life-style modifications [4]. The three main mechanisms of epigenetics are DNA methylation, histone modifications and RNA interference. Deregulation of histone modifications has been associated with mutations in oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes and DNA repair genes. The third epigenetic mechanism relates to RNA interference and micro RNAs (miRNAs) and their role in the regulation of gene expression [12]. The 21-23 nucleotide single-stranded miRNAs interfere with mRNA resulting in the modification of gene expression including both down- and up-regulation [13, 14]. Epigenetics and Disease Due to the close association of epigenetics and disease much attention has been given to evaluate epigenetics in the light of drug targets and the development of novel medicines. Epigenetic mechanisms have been linked to a variety of medical indications including cancer, cardiovascular, liver and skin diseases and neurologic disorders (Table 1)
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