TY - JOUR T1 - Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors: A Novel Therapeutic Weapon Against Medullary Thyroid Cancer? JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 5019 LP - 5024 VL - 36 IS - 10 AU - CHRISTOS DAMASKOS AU - SERENA VALSAMI AU - ELEFTHERIOS SPARTALIS AU - EFSTATHIOS A. ANTONIOU AU - PERIKLIS TOMOS AU - STEFANOS KARAMAROUDIS AU - THEOFANO ZOUMPOU AU - VASILIOS PERGIALIOTIS AU - KONSTANTINOS STERGIOS AU - CONSTANTINOS MICHAELIDES AU - KONSTANTINOS KONTZOGLOU AU - DESPINA PERREA AU - NIKOLAOS NIKITEAS AU - DIMITRIOS DIMITROULIS Y1 - 2016/10/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/36/10/5019.abstract N2 - Background/Aim: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is highly malignant, metastatic and recurrent, remaining generally incurable, and responsible for approximately 14% of all thyroid carcinoma-related deaths. MTC can metastasize to lymph nodes, trachea and distant organs, such as brain, lungs, liver and bones. MTC cells are resistant to chemotherapy and traditional external therapies are not showing definite clinical benefits. Scientists are trying to understand the molecular background of carcinogenesis and histone deacetylase (HDAC) seems to play a potential role to gene transcription. On the other hand, HDAC inhibitors (HDACI) hamper the HDAC action giving promising results as new anticancer drugs. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the current status of research considering the role of HDACIs in MTC treatment and to present the latest trends in MTC treatment protocols. Materials and Methods: This literature review was accomplished using the MEDLINE database. The key words/phrases were; HDACI, medullary thyroid cancer, HDACI in the therapy of neuroendocrine tumors, HDACI in MTC. Forty-one articles were selected from the total number of the search's results. Only sixteen papers focus on the use of HDACIs in the treatment of MTC. In order to extract our conclusions, we took into account some studies whose main topic does not strictly refer to the MTC but they contain noteworthy and useful information. Only English articles published up to August 2016 were assessed and used for writing this review. Results: Molecules, such as valproid acid (VPA), vorinostat, suberoyl bis-hydroxamic acid (SBHA), depsipeptide, belinostat, m-carboxycinnamic acid bis-hydroxamine (CBHA) and AB3 have shown promising antitumor effects against MTC. Conclusion: HDACIs represent a promising field for targeted therapy both for its anticancer properties, as well as for augmenting radiotherapeutic modalities. More trials are needed. ER -