Abstract

Cancer drug development has moved from conventional cytotoxic chemotherapeutics to a more mechanism-based targeted approach towards the common goal of tumour growth arrest. The rapid progress in chromatin research and understanding epigenetic control has supplied a plethora of potential targets for intervention in cancer. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) have been widely implicated in growth and transcriptional control, and inhibition of HDAC activity using small molecules causes apoptosis in tumour cells. Here, we review HDAC inhibitors, together with their current status of clinical development and potential utility in cancer therapy.