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World J Gastrointest Oncol. Oct 15, 2021; 13(10): 1425-1439
Published online Oct 15, 2021. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v13.i10.1425
Proliferating cell nuclear antigen clamp associated factor, a potential proto-oncogene with increased expression in malignant gastrointestinal tumors
Li-Juan Liu, Jian-Ming Liao, Fan Zhu
Li-Juan Liu, Jian-Ming Liao, Fan Zhu, State Key Laboratory of Virology and Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Allergy & Immunology, Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China
Jian-Ming Liao, Department of Neurosurgery, Renmin Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Liu LJ, Liao JM, and Zhu F co-wrote the paper; Liu LJ and Zhu F revised the paper; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81971943 and No. 81772196; and the Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 2020CFB656.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fan Zhu, PhD, Professor, State Key Laboratory of Virology and Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Allergy & Immunology, Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Rd, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China. fanzhu@whu.edu.cn
Received: February 22, 2021
Peer-review started: February 22, 2021
First decision: June 4, 2021
Revised: June 11, 2021
Accepted: July 23, 2021
Article in press: July 23, 2021
Published online: October 15, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: In the interaction with proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), PCNA clamp associated factor (PCLAF) plays a crucial role in cell proliferation, DNA repair, and cell cycle regulation. PCLAF shows a causal relationship with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers as PCLAF is highly expressed in GI tumors and predicts poor prognosis. PCLAF is also associated with numerous other malignancies and autoimmune diseases. This review discusses the role of PCLAF in GI cancers, as well as the underlying molecular mechanism. Biological therapeutics by targeting PCLAF in cancers are also discussed.