1. Targeting Oncogenic Transcription Factors: Therapeutic Implications of Endogenous STAT Inhibitors
- Author
-
David A. Frank and Lisa N. Heppler
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Cancer Research ,Carcinogenesis ,Antineoplastic Agents ,Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling Proteins ,Biology ,medicine.disease_cause ,Bioinformatics ,Article ,stat ,03 medical and health sciences ,Neoplasms ,medicine ,Humans ,Protein inhibitor of activated STAT ,SOCS3 ,STAT4 ,Transcription factor ,Cell Proliferation ,STAT6 ,Protein Inhibitors of Activated STAT ,STAT Transcription Factors ,030104 developmental biology ,Oncology ,STAT protein ,Cancer research - Abstract
Misregulation of transcription factors, including signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins, leads to inappropriate gene expression patterns that can promote tumor initiation and progression. Under physiologic conditions, STAT signaling is stimulus-dependent and tightly regulated by endogenous inhibitors, namely suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins, phosphatases, and protein inhibitor of activated STAT (PIAS) proteins. However, in tumorigenesis, STAT proteins become constitutively active and promote the expression of pro-growth and pro-survival genes. Although STAT activation has been widely implicated in cancer, therapeutic STAT inhibitors are still largely absent from the clinic. This review dissects the mechanisms of action of two families of endogenous STAT inhibitors, the SOCS and PIAS families, to potentially inform the development of novel therapeutic inhibitors.
- Published
- 2017