Epigenetic Drug Discovery in Inflammatory Diseases

<p dir="ltr">Epigenetics is a phenomenon in humans that is defined as stable heritable traits that changes in DNA sequence cannot explain. Epigenetics encompasses a diverse range of biochemical mechanisms that regulate the functional status of DNA without directly involving alterations to adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine nucleotides which are the DNA sequence; the most important mechanisms that drive the process are DNA methylation, histone modification and microRNA modification. Inflammation plays a pivotal role in driving chronic inflammatory diseases. It is a complex biological reaction in bodily tissues in response to stimuli, including pathogens, compromised cells, and irritants. Ankylosing spondolytis (AS) is one of the common major chronic autoimmune inflammatory diseases; its effects are seen in the sacroiliac joint, spine, and peripheral joints. The biology and pathways of AS are not fully understood; however, several studies have demonstrated a close association between HLA-B27 and AS progression. Epigenetic regulation in AS is mainly through DNA methylation and microRNA modification which provide a potential application as diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers.</p>