Functional roles of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K in post-transcriptional gene regulation

Since it is widely accepted that the accumulation of genetic alterations is the main cause of cancer, understanding how cancer-associated genes are regulated is crucial to the development of cancer therapies. As one of important RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNPK), is known to regulate the expression of target genes involved in various pathways, such as transcription, splicing, and translation. HnRNPK is also closely associated with cancer progression, including the acquisition of metastatic potential. At the post-transcriptional level, gene expression is determined by competitive or cooperative interactions between trans-acting factors including RBPs and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) which are capable of binding to cis-elements in target genes. In this review, we discuss the roles of hnRNPK in post-transcriptional gene regulation. The regulation of cancer-associated genes (oncogenes and tumor suppressors) via crosstalk between hnRNPK and ncRNAs such as microRNAs and long ncRNAs is described in detail. This review highlights how hnRNPK may be a promising target for the development of cancer therapeutics.