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Review
. 2014 Dec;33(4):869-77.
doi: 10.1007/s10555-014-9514-4.

Physiological functions of MTA family of proteins

Nirmalya Sen  1 , Bin Gui, Rakesh Kumar
Affiliations
Review

Physiological functions of MTA family of proteins

Nirmalya Sen et al. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

Although the functional significance of the metastasic tumor antigen (MTA) family of chromatin remodeling proteins in the pathobiology of cancer is fairly well recognized, the physiological role of MTA proteins continues to be an understudied research area and is just beginning to be recognized. Similar to cancer cells, MTA1 also modulates the expression of target genes in normal cells either by acting as a corepressor or coactivator. In addition, physiological functions of MTA proteins are likely to be influenced by its differential expression, subcellular localization, and regulation by upstream modulators and extracellular signals. This review summarizes our current understanding of the physiological functions of the MTA proteins in model systems. In particular, we highlight recent advances of the role MTA proteins play in the brain, eye, circadian rhythm, mammary gland biology, spermatogenesis, liver, immunomodulation and inflammation, cellular radio-sensitivity, and hematopoiesis and differentiation. Based on the growth of knowledge regarding the exciting new facets of the MTA family of proteins in biology and medicine, we speculate that the next burst of findings in this field may reveal further molecular regulatory insights of non-redundant functions of MTA coregulators in the normal physiology as well as in pathological conditions outside cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare no any potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. MTA1 coregulator regulates gene expression
A. Dual coregulatory activity of MTA1 regulates diverse cellular pathways. B, MTA1 acts as a coactivator of the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) transcription via interacting with DJ1, Pitx3, Pol II and chromatin remodeling proteins. C, MTA1-NuRD complex represses Six-transcription which in-turn, modulates Rhodopsin expression. D, Mta1 is a target of the Clock/Bmal1 complex and MTA1 acts as a coactivator of its own transcription as well as of Cry1-promoter.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Emerging examples of physiological functions of MTA proteins through multiple gene and protein targets in model systems
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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