In recent years, growing evidence demonstrates that mammalian Nanos RNA-binding proteins (Nanos1, Nanos2, and Nanos3), known for their indispensable roles in germline development, are overexpressed in a variety of cancers. This overexpression contributes to various oncogenic properties including cancer growth, invasiveness, and metastasis. Here, we highlight recent findings regarding the role of mammalian Nanos RNA-binding proteins and the mechanisms of their overexpression in cancer. In addition, we present expression profiles of human NANOS genes and their oncogenic transcriptional regulators obtained from publicly available cancer and normal tissue RNA-Seq datasets. Altogether, we emphasize the functional significance of NANOS proteins across human cancers as well as highlight the missing links to understanding the full scope of their role in carcinogenesis.
Keywords: NANOS1; NANOS2; NANOS3; RNA-binding protein; cancer.