Victoria Richon

Victoria Richon was central to the discovery and development of vorinostat (SAHA, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid), the first histone deacetylase inhibitor approved by the FDA for cancer treatment (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, 2006). Her biochemical characterization of HDAC inhibitor mechanisms demonstrated that blocking histone deacetylation causes hyperacetylation at promoters of tumor suppressor genes, reactivating epigenetically silenced growth-inhibitory and pro-apoptotic programs. She showed that HDAC inhibitors have pleiotropic anti-cancer effects including cell cycle arrest, apoptosis induction, and anti-angiogenesis. Her work established the paradigm of pharmacological epigenetic reprogramming as a viable cancer treatment strategy.