J Cancer 2015; 6(3):233-242. doi:10.7150/jca.11076 This issue Cite
Review
1. Orthopedics Department, Changhai Hospital Affiliated to Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China, 200433
2. Orthopedics Department, 102 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China, 213003
3. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA, 80045
* These authors contribute equally to this work
Cullin family proteins function as scaffolds to form numerous E3 ubiquitin ligases with RING proteins, adaptor proteins and substrate recognition receptors. These E3 ligases further recognize numerous substrates to participate in a variety of cellular processes, such as DNA damage and repair, cell death and cell cycle progression. Clinically, cullin-associated E3 ligases have been identified to involve numerous human diseases, especially with regard to multiple cancer types. Over the past few years, our understanding of cullin proteins and their functions in genome stability and tumorigenesis has expanded enormously. Herein, this review briefly provides current perspectives on cullin protein functions, and mainly summarizes and discusses molecular mechanisms of cullin proteins in tumorigenesis.
Keywords: Cullins, E3 ligase, Tumorigenesis, DNA damage, apoptosis, cell cycle