Undervalued ubiquitous proteins

Abstract

The role of ubiquitous proteins (UPs) and their corresponding enzymes have been underestimated in carcinogenesis as the focus of much research revolved around measuring mutations and/or other genetic epiphenomena as surrogate markers of cancer and cancer progression. Over the past three decades, the scientific community has come to realize that the concentration on microdissection of cancer cells without accounting for the neighborhood in which these cells reside, i.e., the stroma, fails to reflect the true nature of cancer biology. UPs are fundamental for cellular homeostasis and phylogenetic development as well as for the integrity of the cytoskeleton and for the stability of cells and tissues in regards to intercellular signaling, cell shape and mobility, apoptosis, wound healing, and cell polarity. Corresponding enzymes are used by microorganisms to gain entry into the host by degradation of UPs and play a role to cleave peptide bonds for killing disease-causing life forms along for the creation of the precancerous niche (PCN) during carcinogenesis, cancer invasion, and in metastasis. The language used by such proteins as well as their complementary enzymes with its influence on multiple pathways and the cross-linked extracellular matrix is incompletely understood. The role of UPs in the disruption of signaling homeostasis and resulting interference with crosstalk in carcinogenesis appears sufficiently delineated to warrant a much more refined examination of their qualitative and quantitative contribution to the development of cancer and cancer therapy.