Minichromosome Maintenance Proteins in Cancer Prognosis
Summary
Minichromosome Maintenance (MCM) proteins form a six-subunit helicase complex that licenses DNA replication origins and drives fork progression. Aberrant expression of MCM2–7 subunits is observed across a spectrum of malignancies, reflecting deregulated proliferative capacity and genomic instability. High levels of individual MCMs often correlate with adverse tumour features—including advanced stage, high grade and increased metastatic potential—and portend poorer overall and disease-free survival. Beyond their role in DNA unwinding, MCMs interact with cell-cycle regulators and DNA damage response pathways, linking replication stress to oncogenic signalling. Recent work highlights how post-translational modifications of MCMs modulate their stability and activity under replicative stress, offering exploitable vulnerabilities in tumour cells. Clinically, immunohistochemical detection of overexpressed MCM subunits, together with emerging liquid-biopsy assays, holds promise for refining prognostic stratification and guiding personalised therapeutic interventions, including replication-targeted agents. Collectively, MCM proteins occupy a nexus between fundamental cell-cycle control and tumour biology, providing robust biomarkers of proliferative index and novel entry points for drug development.
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Minichromosome Maintenance Proteins in Cancer Prognosis publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in minichromosome maintenance proteins in cancer prognosis across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Minichromosome Maintenance proteins (MCMs): A family of six replication licensing factors that form a helicase complex essential for the initiation and progression of DNA synthesis.
DNA helicase: An enzyme that unwinds double-stranded DNA into single strands, enabling replication and repair processes.
Replication stress: A state of impaired DNA replication characterised by stalled or collapsed replication forks, often leading to genomic instability.
Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy: A form of cancer immunotherapy that uses antibodies to inhibit regulatory pathways in T cells, enhancing antitumour immunity.
Tumour mutation burden (TMB): The total number of somatic mutations per coding area of a tumour genome, used as a predictive biomarker for immunotherapy response.
References
- DNA replication: Mechanisms and therapeutic interventions for diseases. MedComm (2023).
- The prognostic and immunological role of MCM3 in pan-cancer and validation of prognosis in a clinical lower-grade glioma cohort. Frontiers in Pharmacology (2024).
- MCMs in Cancer: Prognostic Potential and Mechanisms. Analytical Cellular Pathology (2020).
- Regulation of MCM2-7 function. Genes & Genetic Systems (2018).
- The Mcm2‐7 Replicative Helicase: A Promising Chemotherapeutic Target. BioMed Research International (2014).
- MCM family in gastrointestinal cancer and other malignancies: From functional characterization to clinical implication. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Reviews on Cancer (2020).
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