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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Aug 15.
Published in final edited form as: Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2016 Oct 3;6(10):a026831. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a026831

Table 1.

Dysregulation and mutation of HDACs in human cancer.

Cancer types HDACs Prognostic relevance Genetic evidence Molecular mechanism References
Solid Tumours
Neuroblastoma HDAC8 High transcript level correlates with advanced-stage disease and poor survival in neuroblastoma. Knockdown and inhibition of HDAC8 promotes cell cycle arrest and differentiation, delays cell growth and induces cell death in vitro and in vivo. HDAC8 inhibition induces p21WAF1/CIP1 and NTRK1/TrkA gene expression and enhances retinoic acid-mediated differentiation by regulating CREB phosphorylation. (Oehme et al. 2009; Rettig et al. 2015)
HDAC10 High expression correlates with poor overall patient survival in advanced INSS stage 4 neuroblastoma. Knockdown and inhibition of HDAC10 in neuroblastoma cells interrupted autophagic flux resulting in an increase of sensitization to cytotoxic drug treatment. HDAC10 controls autophagic processing and resistance to cytotoxic drugs via interaction with Hsp70 family proteins. (Oehme et al. 2013)
Medulloblastoma HDAC2 Overexpressed in medulloblastoma subgroups with poor prognosis. HDAC2 depletion induces cell death and attenuates cell growth. MYC amplified and HDAC2 overexpressing cell lines are more sensitive to class I HDACi. N/A (Ecker et al. 2015)
HDAC5, 9 Upregulated in high-risk medulloblastoma, and their expression is associated with poor survival. Depletion of either HDAC5 or HDAC9 in MB cells resulted in a reduction of cell proliferation and increase in cell death. N/A (Milde et al. 2010)
Lung HDAC1 , 3 High expression correlates with a poor prognosis in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. N/A N/A (Minamiya et al. 2010; Minamiya et al. 2011)
HDAC2 Abundant expression is observed in lung cancer tissues. HDAC2 inactivation represses tumor cell growth in vitro and in vivo. HDAC2 depletion activates apoptosis via p53 and Bax activation and Bcl2 suppression, induces cell cycle arrest by induction of p21 and suppression of cyclin E2, cyclin D1 and CDK2. (Jung et al. 2012)
HDAC5, 10 Low expression is associated with poor prognosis in lung cancer patients. N/A N/A (Osada et al. 2004)
Gastric HDAC1, 2, 3 High expression is associated with nodal tumor spread and decreased overall patient survival. N/A N/A (Weichert et al. 2008b; Sudo et al. 2011)
HDAC4 Upregulated in gastric tumor cells compared with adjacent normal tissues. HDAC4 inhibition has a synergistic effect with docetaxel treatment. HDAC4 inhibition increased the level of cleaved caspases 3 and 9. (Colarossi et al. 2014)
HDAC10 Low expression is a poor prognosis marker for gastric cancer patients. N/A N/A (Jin et al. 2014)
Liver HDAC1 Highly expressed in human HCCs and liver cancer cell lines. HDAC1 inactivation impairs G1/S cell cycle transition and causes autophagic cell death. Knockdown of HDAC1 induces p21 and p27 expression, and suppresses cyclin D1 and CDK2 expression. (Xie et al. 2012)
HDAC1, 2, 3 Upregulated in human HCCs and liver cancer cell lines. The knockdown of HDAC1–3 leads to increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation. Knockdown and inhibition of HDAC1–3 upregulates miR-449 and downregulates c-MET expression. Reduced c-MET dephosphorylates ERK1/2 and inhibits tumor growth. (Buurman et al. 2012)
HDAC1, 2, 3 High expression is associated with poor survival in low-grade and early-stage tumors. N/A N/A (Quint et al. 2011)
HDAC3, 5 Upregulation is correlated with DNA copy number gains. N/A N/A (Lachenmayer et al. 2012)
HDAC5 Upregulated in HCC tissues. Knockdown of HDAC5 promotes cell apoptosis and inhibits tumor cell growth in vitro and in vivo. HDAC5 knockdown promotes apoptosis by upregulating cyto C, caspase 3, p53 and bax, and induces G1 phase cell cycle arrest by upregulating p21 and downregulating cyclin D1 and CDK2/4/6. (Fan et al. 2014)
HDAC5 Upregulated in human HCC tissues. Overexpression of HDAC5 promotes tumor cell proliferation, while knockdown of HDAC5 inhibits cell proliferation. HDAC5 promotes cell proliferation by up-regulation of Six1. (Feng et al. 2014)
HDAC6 Low expression is associated with poor prognosis in liver transplantation patients. Knockdown of HDAC6 promotes HUVEC migration, proliferation, and tube formation in vitro, and suppress HCC cell apoptosis, and promote HCC cell proliferation in hypoxia. HDAC6 knockdown promotes angiogenesis in HCC by HIF-1α/VEGFA axis. (Lv et al. 2015)
Pancreatic HDAC2 Highly expressed in PDAC. HDAC2 confers resistance towards etoposide in PDAC cells. HDAC2 knockdown upregulates NOXA expression which sensitize tumor cells towards etoposide-induced apoptosis. (Fritsche et al. 2009)
HDAC6 Highly expressed in human pancreatic cancer tissues. Knockdown and inhibition of HDAC6 impairs the motility of cancer cells. HDAC6 interacts with CLIP-170 and stimulates the migration of pancreatic cancer cells. (Li et al. 2014)
HDAC7 Overexpression is associated with poor prognosis. Knockdown of HDAC7 inhibits tumor cell growth. N/A (Ouaissi et al. 2008; Ouaissi et al. 2014)
Colorectal HDAC2 mutation Truncating mutations are found in microsatellite unstable sporadic colorectal cancers, which lead to a loss of expression of the protein. HDAC2 mutation renders cells more resistant to antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects of the HDAC inhibitor. N/A (Ropero et al. 2006)
HDAC1, 2, 3 Highly expressed in a subset of colorectal carcinomas. HDAC2 is an independent prognostic factor in colorectal carcinoma. Knockdown of HDAC1 and HDAC2 but not HDAC3 suppresses tumor cell growth. N/A (Weichert et al. 2008d)
HDAC1, 2, 3, 5, 7 Upregulated in human colorectal cancer. HDAC2 is an early biomarker of colon carcinogenesis. N/A N/A (Stypula-Cyrus et al. 2013)
Breast HDAC1, 2, 3 HDAC1 was highly expressed in hormone receptor positive tumors. HDAC2 and 3 are highly expressed in poorly differentiated and hormone receptor negative tumors. N/A N/A (Zhang et al. 2005; Muller et al. 2013)
HDAC1, 6 High expression is good prognostic factors for ER-positive invasive ductal carcinomas. N/A N/A (Zhang et al. 2004; Seo et al. 2014)
Ovarian HDAC1, 2, 3 High expression is associated with a poor outcome. Knockdown of HDAC1 reduces cell proliferation via downregulating cyclin A expression, and knockdown of HDAC3 reduces the cell migration with elevated E-cadherin. (Hayashi et al. 2010)
HDAC1, 2, 3 High-level expression is associated with a poor prognosis in ovarian endometrioid carcinomas. N/A N/A (Weichert et al. 2008a).
Cervical HDAC10 Low expression correlates with lymph node metastasis in cervical cancer. Knockdown of HDAC10 promotes cervical cancer cell migration and invasion. HDAC10 inhibits MMP2 and -9 expression. (Song et al. 2013)
Prostate HDAC1, 2, 3 Highly expressed in prostate carcinomas. HDAC2 is an independent prognostic marker in prostate cancer cohort. N/A N/A (Weichert et al. 2008c)
Renal HDAC1, 2 Highly expressed in renal cell cancer, but none of them are associated with patient survival. N/A N/A (Fritzsche et al. 2008)
Bladder HDAC1, 2, 3 High expression is associated with higher tumor grades. High HDAC1 is a poor prognostic factor in urothelial bladder cancer. N/A N/A (Poyet et al. 2014)
HDAC2, 4, 5, 7, 8 Upregulation of HDAC2, 8 and downregulation of HDAC4, 5, and 7 mRNA are observed in urothelial cancer. N/A N/A (Niegisch et al. 2013)
Melanoma HDAC3,8 HDAC8 was increased in BRAF-mutated melanoma. HDAC8 and 3 over expression are associated with improved survival of patients with stage IV metastatic melanoma. N/A N/A (Wilmott et al. 2015)
Hematological Tumors
ALL HDAC1-9 HDAC2, 3, 6, 7, 8 are upregulated in ALL samples. HDAC1 and 4 show high expression in T-ALL and HDAC6 and 9 are highly expressed in B-lineage ALL. Higher expression of HDAC7 and 9 is associated with a poor prognosis in childhood ALL. N/A N/A (Moreno et al. 2010)
HDAC4 High expression is associated with high initial leukocyte count, T cell ALL and prednisone poor-response. HDAC4 knockdown enhanced etoposide’s cytotoxic activity. N/A (Gruhn et al. 2013)
CLL HDAC1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, SIRT1 and 6 Higher expressions are associated with poor prognosis and more advanced disease stage. N/A N/A (Wang et al. 2011)
HDAC6, 7, 10 and SIRT2, 3, 6 Overexpression of HDAC7 and 10 and underexpression of HDAC6 and SIRT3 are correlated with a poor prognosis. N/A N/A (Van Damme et al. 2012)
AML HDAC5, 6, SIRT1 and 4. HDAC6 and SIRT1 are overexpressed, and HDAC5 and SIRT4 are underexpressed in AML samples. N/A N/A (Bradbury et al. 2005)
DLBCL HDAC1 Highly expressed in cases of DLBCL and correlated with a poor survival. N/A N/A (Min et al. 2012)
HDAC2 Highly expressed in nodal lymphomas, which is associated with shorter survival. N/A N/A (Lee et al. 2014)
HDAC1, 2, 6 The expression is higher in cases of DLBCL or PTCL. High HDAC6 level is associated with favorable outcome in DLBCL, but with a negative outcome in PTCL. N/A N/A (Marquard et al. 2009)
HDAC3 Overexpression is observed in phospho STAT3-positive ABC-type DLBCL. HDAC3 knockdown inhibited survival of pSTAT3-positive DLBCL cells. HDAC3 knockdown unregulated STAT3Lys685 acetylation but prevented STAT3Tyr705 Phosphorylation (Gupta et al. 2012)
CTCL HDAC2, 6 HDAC2 is highly expressed in aggressive rather than indolent CTCL. HDAC6 is associated with a favorable outcome independent of the subtype. N/A N/A (Marquard et al. 2008)
HL HDAC1, 2, 3 Overexpressed in HL tissue samples. High HDAC1 expression is correlated with a worse outcome. N/A N/A (Adams et al. 2010)
Myeloma HDAC1 Overexpression of class I HDAC, particularly HDAC1, is associated with poor prognosis in myeloma. N/A N/A (Mithraprabhu et al. 2014)

Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), Cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL), Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL).