Regulatory roles of five key USP family deubiquitinases in cancer: from mechanisms to targeted therapy advances

Description

A family of enzymes that erase ubiquitin tags steers cancer from backstage, and Yanan Wang and Jing Shi review five of its members in a 2026 paper. The USPs remove the cell's disposal labels from proteins, rescuing whatever they touch. The five in focus touch famous circuitry: p53, PTEN, c-Myc, and PD-L1 among their substrates.

Across tumors the five cut both ways, driving growth, blocking cell death, aiding spread, and helping immune evasion, depending on context the review maps carefully. The therapeutic shelf is filling: selective inhibitors, degraders that turn the cell's own disposal system on the enzymes, stabilizers for tumor suppressors, and molecular glues. The authors organize mechanisms, structures, and drug programs into one account, arguing these erasers have graduated from curiosities to a target class with clinical momentum.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13601928