Biological Function of NF2/Merlin and Its Role in Tumorigenesis

LI Mengyao¹, JIA Zexiao¹, LEI Zhaoying¹, DING Xue¹, YANG Shuxu^2
*, YAN Qingfeng^1,3,4*

( ¹College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; ²Department of Neurosurgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, China; ³Department of Pediatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China; ⁴Key Laboratory for Cell and Gene Engineering of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310058, China)

Abstract:

NF2 (neurofibromin 2) was cloned and identified from patients with neurofibromatosis type 2. NF2 gene encodes tumor suppressor protein Merlin (Moesin-Ezrin-Radixin-like protein), which mediates cell junctions and participates in Hippo, PI3K/AKT/mTOR (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin), Wnt/β-catenin and RTKs (receptor tyrosine kinases) signaling pathways. NF2 mutation or Merlin dysfunction may cause not only neurofibromatosis type 2 with schwannoma, meningioma and ependymoma, but also liver cancer, breast cancer and many other malignant tumors. This review summarizes the structure, variation and modification of NF2/Merlin, and introduces the research progress in the biological function of NF2/Merlin and its role and mechanism in tumorigenesis in detail.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2021.12.0013