title: Musashi signaling in stem cells and cancer.
abstract: How a single cell gives rise to an entire organism is one of biology's greatest mysteries. Within this process, stem cells play a key role by serving as seed cells capable of both self-renewal to sustain themselves as well as differentiation to generate the full diversity of mature cells and functional tissues. Understanding how this balance between self-renewal and differentiation is achieved is crucial to defining not only the underpinnings of normal development but also how its subversion can lead to cancer. Musashi, a family of RNA binding proteins discovered originally in Drosophila and named after the iconic samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, has emerged as a key signal that confers and protects the stem cell state across organisms. Here we explore the role of this signal in stem cells and how its reactivation can be a critical element in oncogenesis. Relative to long-established developmental signals such as Wnt, Hedgehog, and Notch, our understanding of Musashi remains in its infancy; yet all evidence suggests that Musashi will emerge as an equally powerful paradigm for regulating development and cancer and may be destined to have a great impact on biology and medicine.
authors.forename: Raymond G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: Frederick D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Claire S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Koechlein
authors.forename: Marcie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kritzik
authors.forename: Tannishtha
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D063646:Carcinogenesis / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; C088623:msi protein, Drosophila
keywords: Musashi; cancer; cancer progression; development; stem cells