ArticleCell death & disease2018
The deubiquitinase USP21 stabilizes MEK2 to promote tumor growth.
Article in Cell death & disease, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 76 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rewiring KRAS-driven cancers through the ubiquitin-proteasome system: therapeutic opportunities with a focus on deubiquitinase.Experimental & molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Combining Transarterial Chemoembolisation With Reduced Deubiquitinase Activity Reduces Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2026Article
- USP21 drives immune evasion in colorectal cancer via deubiquitination and stabilization of β-catenin.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2026Article
- USP21 functions as an oncogenic regulator of the Mdm2-p53 axis in colorectal cancer.Cell death discovery · 2026Article
- Regulatory roles of five key USP family deubiquitinases in cancer: from mechanisms to targeted therapy advances.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- A prognostic nomogram for colorectal cancer based on ubiquitin-specific protease 21 expression: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2026Article
- Targeting ubiquitination in disease and therapy.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2025Review
- Molecular regulation by ubiquitin-specific proteases (USPs) in HCC: cell cycle, oncogenic signaling, and beyond.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Review
- METTL3-Mediated m6A Methylation of USP21 Contributes to Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression by Stabilizing H2BFS Through Deubiquitination.Biochemical genetics · 2025Article
- Mechanism of USP21 autoinhibition and histone H2AK119 deubiquitination.Science advances · 2025Article
- Role of antidiarrheal agents nifuroxazide in antitumor multi‑target anticancer, multi‑mechanism anticancer drug (Review).Oncology letters · 2025Review
- GTF3C2 Promotes the Proliferation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells through the USP21/MEK2/ERK1/2 Pathway.Journal of clinical and translational hepatology · 2025Article
- USP21 is involved in the development of chronic hepatitis B by modulating the immune microenvironment.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Deubiquitylating Enzymes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.International journal of biological sciences · 2025Review
- Review
- The ubiquitin-specific protease 21 is critical for cancer cell mitochondrial function and regulates proliferation and migration.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2024Article
- Ubiquitination and deubiquitination in cancer: from mechanisms to novel therapeutic approaches.Molecular cancer · 2024Review
- USP21-mediated G3BP1 stabilization accelerates proliferation and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma via activating Wnt/β-Catenin signaling.Oncogenesis · 2024Article
- USP21 deubiquitinates and stabilizes HSP90 and ENO1 to promote aerobic glycolysis and proliferation in cholangiocarcinoma.International journal of biological sciences · 2024Article
- Roles of clinical application of lenvatinib and its resistance mechanism in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (Review).American journal of cancer research · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Deubiquitinases (DUBs) play essential roles in normal cell proliferation and tumor growth. However, the molecular mechanisms of DUBs on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains largely unknown. In this study, based on analysis of several HCC datasets, we found that the USP21 gene, which encodes a member of the ubiquitin-specific protease family, is highly amplified and overexpressed in HCCs, with the extent of this up-regulation significantly correlating with poor clinical outcomes. Inhibition of USP21 in HCC cell lines decreased cell proliferation, anchorage-independent growth, cell cycle progression, and in vivo tumor growth. Conversely, ectopic expression of USP21 transformed the normal human hepatocyte line HL-7702 and increased the tumorigenicity of the HCC cell line MHCC97L. Mechanistically, USP21 stabilized MEK2 by decreasing its polyubiquitination at Lys48, thereby activating the ERK signaling pathway. Importantly, MEK2 partially mediated the optimal expression of USP21-mediated oncogenic phenotypes. These findings indicate that USP21-mediated deubiquitination and stabilization of MEK2 play a critical role in HCC development.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.