New potential Anti-cancer Target for different cancers identified

Researchers from University of North Carolina have recently identified a critical splicing factor RBM4 whose expression decreases dramatically in many human cancers, including lung cancer and breast cancer, etc. This result may provide ideas that would enable therapeutic targeting of deregulated splicing and open new avenues for cancer therapy. This study was published on Cancer Cell.

Alternative Spicing(AS) plays a vital role in the intricate regulation of protein function and aberrant splicing is closely associated with human cancers. However, the mechanistic details underlying these connections are largely unknown. Investigating splicing factors that play vital roles in cancer progression is a promising way to find the therapeutic anti-cancer target.

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In this research, scientists report a splicing factor RBM4 suppresses proliferation and migration of various cancer cells by specifically controlling cancer-related splicing. RBM4 could regulate Bcl-x splicing to induce apoptosis, and coexpression of Bcl-xL partially reverses the RBM4-mediated tumor suppression. Further, RBM4 antagonizes an oncogenic splicing factor, SRSF1, to inhibit mTOR activation. Among many cancer patients, RBM4 expression stays in a very low level and its level correlates positively with improved survival.

This study represents a detailed mechanism of cancer-related splicing dysregulation and establishes RBM4 as a tumor suppressor with therapeutic potential.

Reference:

Wang, Y., Chen, D., Qian, H., Tsai, Y. S., Shao, S., Liu, Q., … & Wang, Z. (2014). The Splicing Factor RBM4 Controls Apoptosis, Proliferation, and Migration to Suppress Tumor Progression. Cancer cell26(3), 374-389.

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