title: The nuclear import receptor Kpnβ1 and its potential as an anticancer therapeutic target.
abstract: Many proteins require transport across the nuclear envelope, the physical barrier separating the nucleus from the cytoplasm. Karyopherin β (Kpnβ1) proteins are the major nuclear receptor proteins in the cell that cargo proteins across the nuclear envelope, allowing them to enter and exit the cell nucleus. Karyopherin β1, a major nuclear import receptor, plays an integral role in importing transcription factors, cell signaling proteins, cell cycle proteins, and so forth, into the nucleus, thus playing a crucial role in maintaining normal cell homeostasis. However, cancer cells appear to differentially regulate the expression of the Karyopherin β proteins, presumably in order to maintain increased nuclear transport rates, thus implicating this protein family as a target for cancer therapy. The role of Kpnβ1 in cancer is only now being elucidated, and recent work points to its potential usefulness as an anti-cancer target.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Biochemistry, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Pauline J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: van der Watt
authors.forename: Catherine L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Stowell
authors.forename: Virna D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Leaner
mesh_terms: D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D009685:Nuclear Envelope / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019913:Nuclear Localization Signals / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D028961:beta Karyopherins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C424166:KPNB1 protein, human; D019913:Nuclear Localization Signals; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D028961:beta Karyopherins