Significance of the Y-box proteins in human cancers

Abstract

Y-box proteins belong to the cold shock domain family of proteins that are known to be involved in both transcriptional and translational control. Here, we give a brief overview of the structure, regulation and physiological functions of the Y-box proteins. This is followed by examining the role of Y-box protein 1 (YB-1), the most extensively studied of the Y-box protein in tumorigenesis, and its clinicopathological significance. YB-1 has the potential to be a prognostic marker and predictor of chemoresistance in human cancers.

Keywords: YB-1; chemoresistance; clinicopathological significance; prognostication; structure and regulation; tumorigenesis.

Figure 1

Schematic diagram depicting the structure of the Y-box protein. ++ and − − indicate clusters of basic and acidic/aromatic amino acids. Functions attributed to each domain are summarized at the bottom.

Figure 2

Cellular and viral proteins that interact with the Y-box protein. Numbers in parentheses indicate the references as follows: (1) Shnyreva et al, 2000, (2) Kohno et al, 2003; Swamynathan et al, 1998 and references therein, (3) Higashi et al, 2003b, (4) Safak et al, 1999, (5) Zou et al, 1997, (6) Kojic et al, 2004, (7) Chansky et al, 2001, (8) Moraes et al, 2003, (9) Funke et al, 1996, (10) Raffetseder et al, 2003, (11) Wilhelm et al, 2000, (12) Matsumoto et al, 2005, (13) Balda et al, 2003, (14) Moorthamer et al, 1999, (15) Matsumoto and Wolffe, 1998; Evdokimova and Ovchinnikov, 1999 and references therein, (16) Balda and Matter, 2000, (17) Frankel et al, 2005.