Role of Rab GTPases in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

J Hepatocell Carcinoma. 2021 Nov 19:8:1389-1397. doi: 10.2147/JHC.S336251. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The Rab GTPase family contains almost 70 genes in the human genome and acts as the key regulator of intracellular membrane trafficking in human cells. The dysregulation of Rab GTPase has been shown to be associated with multiple human diseases, ranging from neurodegeneration, and infection to cancer. Rab GTPases not only play important roles in genome replication, morphogenesis and the release of hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV), but also contribute to hepatitis-related hepatocarcinogenesis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. The alteration of Rab GTPase expression in HCC plays an important role in tumour cell proliferation, invasion and migration. Notably, the expression of Rab genes can be regulated by some noncoding RNAs, such as miRNAs and circRNAs. Thus, Rab GTPases can serve as promising rational and therapeutic targets for HCC treatments. In this review, we summarized recent advancements in this field focusing on Rab GTPases in HCC.

Keywords: Rab GTPase; hepatocellular carcinoma; membrane trafficking; therapeutic target.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Taishan Scholars Program for Young Expert of Shandong Province (tsqn20161064), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81874178, 82172647, 82073200), Independent Cultivation of Innovative Team from Universities in Jinan (Grant No.2020GXRC023) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M682192).