The Tale of DJ-1 (PARK7): A Swiss Army Knife in Biomedical and Psychological Research

Abstract

DJ-1 (also known as PARK7) is a multifunctional enzyme in human beings that is highly conserved and that has also been discovered in diverse species (ranging from prokaryotes to eukaryotes). Its complex enzymatic and non-enzymatic activities (such as anti-oxidation, anti-glycation, and protein quality control), as well as its role as a transcriptional coactivator, enable DJ-1 to serve as an essential regulator in multiple cellular processes (e.g., epigenetic regulations) and make it a promising therapeutic target for diverse diseases (especially cancer and Parkinson's disease). Due to its nature as a Swiss army knife enzyme with various functions, DJ-1 has attracted a large amount of research interest, from different perspectives. In this review, we give a brief summary of the recent advances with respect to DJ-1 research in biomedicine and psychology, as well as the progress made in attempts to develop DJ-1 into a druggable target for therapy.

Keywords: DJ-1/PARK7; cancer; multifunctional enzyme; psychology; therapeutic target.

Figure 1

DJ-1 is a Swiss army knife-like protein with diverse functions and plays multiple essential roles in human health and disease states. The representative enzymatic and non-enzymatic activities of DJ-1 are labeled in orange and blue circles, respectively.

Figure 2

Representative well-established enzymatic activities of DJ-1 [19,30,34]. pNPA: 4-Nitrophenyl acetate; pNP: 4-Nitro-phenoxide; GSH: glutathione; POI: protein of interest.

Figure 3

Representative interactome of PARK7 (DJ-1), in addition to those mentioned in this paper (e.g., GAPDH, SREBP, STAT1, NURR1, etc.). The figure was made using the website of the Human Reference Interactome (HuRI) Mapping Project (http://www.interactome-atlas.org; accessed on 30 March 2023).