Protein methyltransferases as a target class for drug discovery

The protein methyltransferases (PMTs) - which methylate protein lysine and arginine residues and have crucial roles in gene transcription - are emerging as an important group of enzymes that play key parts in normal physiology and human diseases. The collection of human PMTs is a large and diverse group of enzymes that have a common mechanism of catalysis. Here, we review the biological, biochemical and structural data that together present PMTs as a novel, chemically tractable target class for drug discovery.