Dietary epigenome modifying compounds for the treatment of cancer

While a significant proportion of research and development by laboratories and pharmaceutical companies worldwide have focused on synthetic drug discovery programs, the contribution of nature to drug discovery is becoming increasingly recognized. The requirement for more specific and efficacious anticancer treatments has led to the implementation of natural product screening programs to identify novel compounds that exhibit such properties. Indeed, a number of structurally-diverse natural compounds with such activity have been identified from both plant and microbial sources. For example, the potent histone deacetylase inhibitor, cinnamic acid hydroxamate, has been identified following high-throughput screening of Novartis' chemical compound archive. This compound is now in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of multiple myeloma. In this chapter the biological effects of natural epigenome-modifying compounds will be discussed.