Publications by authors named "Alicia X Deng"

Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is the catalytic subunit of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) along with embryonic ectoderm development (EED) and suppressor of zeste 12 (SUZ12), which implements transcriptional repression mainly by depositing trimethylation marks at lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27me3). Its catalytic activity is closely correlated with the stability of PRC2, and somatic activating mutation of EZH2 Y641F within the catalytic SET domain drives tumor aggressiveness, drug resistance, and poor prognosis. Here, we report two high-throughput screening (HTS) campaigns targeting EZH2 Y641F and EZH2-EED interaction, respectively.

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Valproic acid (VPA) is a widely used antiepileptic drug and first-line treatment in bipolar disorder, although the mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effects are largely unknown. Recently, the recognition of VPA as an epigenetic drug offers new opportunities for understanding its therapeutic actions. In a rat serotonergic cell line (RN46A) we observed that VPA exposure has a strong upregulatory effect on the gene for sepiapterin reductase (SPR), a key enzyme involved in the tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) synthetic pathway.

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