An Insight into Cancer from Biomolecular Condensates

Abstract

Understanding the characteristics of cancer cells is critical for developing enhanced therapies and diagnoses. The super-enhancer notion has been given from the angle of gene regulation in order to properly appreciate the molecular mechanisms behind the identities of distinct cell types. A variety of distinguishing features of super-enhancers have contributed to the findings which link gene regulation and biomolecular condensates. This is typically mediated via liquid-liquid phase separation. Several lines of evidence have pointed to alterations in molecular and biophysical principles in cancer cells, notably those linked to gene regulation and cell signaling. All these findings hint to biomolecular condensate change as a major mechanism by which cancer cells acquire distinct cancer characteristic traits and offer functional innovation for cancer initiation and progression. Liquid-liquid phase separation has recently been used for sorting all the processes taking place in the cell for the formation of biomolecular condensates (membrane-free organelles). Recent studies on biomolecular condensates have found that their production and regulation are associated with cancer. Here, we review the evidence that production and degradation of biomolecular condensates are linked to cancer development and progression. As they are linked to cancers, they can be used in cancer research and to devise new cancer therapies, for example, condensate perturbation.