Therapeutic Applications of Histone Deacetylase (HDAC) Inhibitors
A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 77
Special Issue Editors
Interests: epigenetics-targeted drugs; organ fibrosis; neurodegenerative diseases; fluorescent probe; novel synthetic methods
Interests: medicinal chemistry; fragment-based drug design; structure-based drug design; antiviral agents; anti-cancer agents; methyltransferase inhibitors; sirtuin inhibitors; histone deacetylase inhibitors; nucleosides; nucleotides
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Epigenetic enzymes have emerged as promising drug targets in last two decades. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) stands out as a major research hotspot, and up to five small molecules were approved for the treatment of cancer and muscular dystrophy. There are 18 subtypes of HDAC enzymes, comprising 11 zinc-dependent HDACs and 7 NAD+-dependent HDACs. Therefore, to improve drug safety and to explore therapeutic applications beyond oncology, researchers have also focused on developing subtype-selective HDAC inhibitors and compounds featuring noncanonical zinc-binding groups other than hydroxamic acid. With the increasing availability of protein structure information, HDAC1, HDAC2, HDAC3, HDAC6, HDAC8, HDAC10 and class IIa HDAC selective inhibitors were discovered, paving the way for potential treatment of currently untreatable conditions such as organ fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, glioblastoma, and even amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), since HDAC inhibitors with increased brain exposure have also become achievable in recent years.
In light of the growing potential of HDAC inhibitors, this Special Issue aims to bring together research from experts to present HDAC inhibitors and broaden treatment options for diseases with limited therapeutic choices.
Dr. Chao-Wu Yu
Dr. Liqiang Chen
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- HDAC inhibitors
- organ fibrosis
- rare disease
- neurodegenerative disease
- antibiotics
- anti-cancer
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