Invited commentary

Abstract

The article by Mukhopadhyay and colleagues [1] investigates the mechanism for a potential new lung cancer treatment. Four nonsmall cell lung cancer lines and a normal lung fibroblast cell line were treated with Trichostatin A, a known anti-fungal agent and histone deacetylase inhibitor. The investigators find that there is a 10-fold difference in concentration necessary for cell death between the cancer cells and the normal cells, thus opening a potential therapeutic window for this drug. Furthermore they carefully investigate the mechanism for this effect suggesting that the gene p21 may play a pivotal role.