Role of the DEK oncogene in the development of squamous cell carcinoma

• Published in: International journal of clinical oncology Vol. 25; no. 9; pp. 1563 - 1569
• Main Authors: Ishida, Kazuhisa, Nakashima, Takayuki, Shibata, Toshiyuki, Hara, Akira, Tomita, Hiroyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 01.09.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acute myeloid leukemia; Cancer Research; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - diagnosis; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - genetics; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone - genetics; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Human papillomavirus; Humans; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Myeloid leukemia; Oncogene Proteins - genetics; Oncogenes; Oncology; Poly-ADP-Ribose Binding Proteins - genetics; Review; Review Article; Squamous cell carcinoma; Surgical Oncology; Squamous cell carcinoma; Oncogene; DEK
• ISSN: 1341-9625; 1437-7772
• DOI: 10.1007/s10147-020-01735-5

DEK is a highly conserved nuclear factor that plays an important role in the regulation of multiple cellular processes. DEK was discovered to be an oncogene as a fusion with NUP214 gene, which results in producing DEK-NUP214 proteins, in a subset of patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Subsequently, DEK overexpression was reported in many cancers, thus DEK itself is considered to be an oncoprotein. DEK has been reported to play important roles in the progression of early and late stage squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and is useful for early diagnosis of the disease. These findings have made DEK an attractive therapeutic target, especially for human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated SCC. However, the mechanism of DEK in SCC remains unclear. In this review, we discuss human DEK oncogene-related SCC.