The interplay of post-translational modification and gene therapy

Abstract

Several proteins interact either to activate or repress the expression of other genes during transcription. Based on the impact of these activities, the proteins can be classified into readers, modifier writers, and modifier erasers depending on whether histone marks are read, added, or removed, respectively, from a specific amino acid. Transcription is controlled by dynamic epigenetic marks with serious health implications in certain complex diseases, whose understanding may be useful in gene therapy. This work highlights traditional and current advances in post-translational modifications with relevance to gene therapy delivery. We report that enhanced understanding of epigenetic machinery provides clues to functional implication of certain genes/gene products and may facilitate transition toward revision of our clinical treatment procedure with effective fortification of gene therapy delivery.

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Keywords:

• post-translational modification
• gene therapy
• epigenetics
• histone
• methylation

Acknowledgments

This collaborative work was carried out during the tenure of Victor C Osamor on an ERCIM “Alain Bensoussan”/Marie Curie Fellowship at University of Warsaw, Poland. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement number 246016. We are grateful to Prof Jerzy Tiuryn, Mr D Adamiak, Prof Pawel Strzelecki, Prof Andrzej Tarlecki, Małgorzata Koślacz, and Małgorzata Smoderek for their support. Others include Mateusz Lacki, Shamba Sankar Mondal, Jaroslaw Paszek, Michal Wozniak, Pawel Bednarz, Agnieszka Mykowiecka, Aleksander Jankowski, Kyzysztof Gogolewski, Julia Herman-Izycka, Piotr Dittwald, Maciek Sykulski, Ilona Grabowicz, Rafal Zaborowski, Michal Startek, Pawel Gorecki, Bartek Wilczynski, and Anna Gambin.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.