The Role of SPOP in Tumorigenesis

SPOP (speckle type BTB/POZ protein) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase adaptor protein. Genomic loss or mutation of SPOP locus generally leads to various diseases including tumors. It has been reported that occur-rence and development of various types of cancers are closely associated with functional loss or mutation of SPOP. However, SPOP functions in a tissue-specific manner. SPOP targets its substrate proteins for proteasomal degrada-tion, and these proteins are usually required for tumor growth, invasion and metastasis. SPOP mainly acts as a tu-mor suppressor gene in prostate cancer, endometrial cancer and breast cancer. Here we summarize recent studies to discuss the role of SPOP and its possible mechanisms in tumor progression in different tissues.