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Targeted inhibition of SUMOylation: treatment of tumors

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Abstract

SUMOylation is a dynamic and reversible post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins involved in the regulation of biological processes such as protein homeostasis, DNA repair and cell cycle in normal and tumor cells. In particular, overexpression of SUMOylation components in tumor cells increases the activity of intracellular SUMOylation, protects target proteins against ubiquitination degradation and activation, promoting tumor cell proliferation and metastasis, providing immune evasion and increasing tolerance to chemotherapy and antitumor drugs. However, with the continuous research on SUMOylation and with the continued development of SUMOylation inhibitors, it has been found that tumor initiation and progression can be inhibited by blocking SUMOylation and/or in combination with drugs. SUMOylation is not a bad target when trying to treat tumor. This review introduces SUMOylation cycle pathway and summarizes the role of SUMOylation in tumor initiation and progression and SUMOylation inhibitors and their functions in tumors and provides a prospective view of SUMOylation as a new therapeutic target for tumors.

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The information used in the findings of this review article is available in the PubMed online database.

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We thank the institution for its help in writing this article.

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This work was supported by the Yunnan Fundamental Research Projects (202101BE070001-004) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (82260461).

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  1. School of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China

    Hongwei Zhao, Panpan Zhao & Chao Huang

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Zhao, H., Zhao, P. & Huang, C. Targeted inhibition of SUMOylation: treatment of tumors. Human Cell (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13577-024-01092-9

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