Periodontitis is one of the most common inflammatory diseases in humans. The susceptibility to periodontitis is largely determined by the host response, and the severity of inflammation predicts disease progression. Upon microbial insults, host cells undergo massive changes in their transcription program to trigger an appropriate response (inflammation). It is not surprising that successful keystone pathogens have developed specific mechanisms to manipulate the gene expression network in host cells. Emerging data has indicated that epigenetic regulation plays a significant role in inflammation. Acetylation of lysine residues on histones is a major epigenetic modification of chromatin, highly associated with the accessibility of chromatin and activation of transcription. Specific histone acetylation patterns are observed in inflammatory diseases including periodontitis. Bromo- and extraterminal domain (BET) proteins recognize acetylated histones and then recruit transcription factors and transcription elongation complexes to chromatin. BET proteins are regulated in inflammatory diseases and small molecules blocking the function of BET proteins are promising “epi-drugs” for treating inflammatory diseases.

中文翻译：

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组蛋白乙酰化、BET 蛋白和牙周炎症

牙周炎是人类最常见的炎症性疾病之一。牙周炎的易感性很大程度上取决于宿主反应，炎症的严重程度可预测疾病的进展。在受到微生物侵害时，宿主细胞的转录程序会发生巨大变化，以触发适当的反应（炎症）。成功的关键病原体已经开发出操纵宿主细胞中基因表达网络的特定机制，这并不奇怪。新数据表明表观遗传调控在炎症中发挥着重要作用。组蛋白上赖氨酸残基的乙酰化是染色质的主要表观遗传修饰，与染色质的可及性和转录激活高度相关。在包括牙周炎在内的炎症性疾病中观察到特定的组蛋白乙酰化模式。溴基和末端外结构域 (BET) 蛋白识别乙酰化组蛋白，然后将转录因子和转录延伸复合物募集至染色质。BET 蛋白在炎症性疾病中受到调节，阻断 BET 蛋白功能的小分子是有前途的治疗炎症性疾病的“表外药物”。