Clinical advances in epigenetic therapies for lymphoma

BACKGROUND: Advances in understanding of cancer biology, genomics, epigenomics, and immunology have resulted in development of several therapeutic options that expand cancer care beyond traditional chemotherapy or radiotherapy, including individualized treatment strategies, novel treatments based on monotherapies or combination therapy to reduce toxicities, and implementation of strategies for overcoming resistance to anticancer therapy. RESULTS: This review covers the latest applications of epigenetic therapies for treatment of B cell, T cell, and Hodgkin lymphomas, highlighting key clinical trial results with monotherapies and combination therapies from the main classes of epigenetic therapies, including inhibitors of DNA methyltransferases, protein arginine methyltransferases, enhancer of zeste homolog 2, histone deacetylases, and the bromodomain and extraterminal domain. CONCLUSION: Epigenetic therapies are emerging as an attractive add-on to traditional chemotherapy and immunotherapy regimens. New classes of epigenetic therapies promise low toxicity and may work synergistically with other cancer treatments to overcome drug resistance mechanisms. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text]