Ithaca College

A paper published in 2007 by Keris KrennHrubec (Biochemistry '07), Mark Hedglin (Biochemistry '05) and Chemistry faculty member Scott Ulrich was recently recognized as being among the "Top-50 most cited articles" published in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters between 2003 - 2010.

KrennHrubec, K., Marshall, B.L., Hedglin, M., Verdin, E.
Design and evaluation of 'Linkerless' hydroxamic acids as selective HDAC8 inhibitors 
Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, Volume 17, Issue 10 (2007), Pages 2874-2878

 

The paper describes a chemical inhibitor of an important human enzyme, HDAC8.  The inhibitor has since been found to be effective in a neuroblastoma cancer model where a mutant HDAC8 (the target of the drug) causes the disease by a research group at the University of Heidelberg.

Oehme I, Deubzer HE, Wegener D, Pickert D, Linke J, Hero B, Kopp-Schneider A, Westermann F, Ulrich SM, von Deimling A, Fischer M, and Olaf Witt. "Histone Deacetylase 8 in NeuroblastomaTumorigenesis" Clinical Cancer Research 91 15(1) January 1, 2009

HDAC8's normal function includes the control of smooth muscle cell contraction.  A research group at the University of Newcastle (UK) found that the HDAC8 inhibitor prevents myometrial cell contratcion and could be used to prevent preterm labor.  A paper describing these results has been submitted to the Journal of Clinical Investigation.