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Epigenetic mechanisms and endocannabinoid signalling
Author(s) -
D'Addario Claudio,
Di Francesco Andrea,
Pucci Mariangela,
Finazzi Agrò Alessandro,
Maccarrone Mauro
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the febs journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.981
H-Index - 204
eISSN - 1742-4658
pISSN - 1742-464X
DOI - 10.1111/febs.12125
Subject(s) - endocannabinoid system , epigenetics , biology , dna methylation , histone , neuroscience , signal transduction , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene expression , receptor , gene
The endocannabinoid system, composed of endogenous lipids, their target receptors and metabolic enzymes, has been implicated in multiple biological functions in health and disease, both in the central nervous system and in peripheral organs. Despite the exponential growth of experimental evidence on the key role of endocannabinoid signalling in basic cellular processes, and on its potential exploitation for therapeutic interventions, much remains to be clarified about the respective regulatory mechanisms. Epigenetics refers to a set of post‐translational modifications that regulate gene expression without causing variation in DNA sequence, endowed with a major impact on signal transduction pathways. The epigenetic machinery includes DNA methylation, histone modifications, nucleosome positioning and non‐coding RNA s. Due to the reversibility of epigenetic changes, an emerging field of interest is the possibility of an ‘epigenetic therapy’ that could possibly be applied also to endocannabinoids. Here, we review current knowledge of epigenetic regulation of endocannabinoid system components under both physiological and pathological conditions, as well as the epigenetic changes induced by endocannabinoid signalling.