@article {Patnaik:2020gs,
	title = {Exifone is a Potent HDAC1 Activator with Neuroprotective Activity in Human Neuronal Models of Neurodegeneration},
	journal = {bioRxiv},
	volume = {27},
	number = {2},
	year = {2020},
	pages = {2020.03.02.973636},
	abstract = {Genomic instability caused by a deficiency in the DNA damage response and repair has been linked to age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease. Preventing this loss of genomic integrity that ultimately leads to neuronal death may provide a broadly effective strategy to protect against multiple potential genotoxic stressors. Recently, the zinc-dependent, class I histone deacetylase HDAC1 has been identified as a critical protein for protecting neurons from deleterious effects mainly caused by double-strand DNA breaks in Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Translating these observations to a novel neuroprotective therapy for AD, ALS or FTD will benefit from the identification of small molecules capable of selectively increasing the deacetylase activity of HDAC1 over other structurally similar class I HDACs. Here, we demonstrate that exifone, a drug previously shown to be effective in treating cognitive decline associated with AD and Parkinson{\textquoteright}s disease, the molecular mechanism of which has remained poorly understood, potently activates the deacetylase activity of HDAC1 and provides protection against genotoxic stress. We show that exifone acts as a mixed, non-essential activator of HDAC1 that is capable of binding to both free and substrate-bound enzyme resulting in an increased relative maximal rate of HDAC1-catalyzed deacetylation. Selectivity profiling and estimation of kinetic parameters using biolayer interferometry suggest HDAC1 is a preferential target compared to other class I HDACs and CDK5. Treatment of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neuronal cells resulted in a decrease of histone acetylation, consistent with an intracellular mechanism of deacetylase activation. Moreover, using tauopathy patient-derived iPSC neuronal models subject to oxidative stress through mitochondrial inhibition exifone treatment was neuroprotective. Taken together, these findings reveal exifone as a potent activator of HDAC1-mediated deacetylation, thereby offering a lead for novel therapeutic development aiming to protect genomic integrity in the context of neurodegeneration and aging.},
	author = {Patnaik, Debasis and Pao, Ping-Chieh and Zhao, Wen-Ning and Silva, M Catarina and Hylton, Norma K and Chindavong, Peter S and Pan, Ling and Tsai, Li-Huei and Haggarty, Stephen J}
}
