ABSTRACT
Currently, cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, and potential targeted drugs and molecular pathways for cancer development and progression have been a hot research topic worldwide. In recent years, the importance of kinase superfamily in diseases has been well demonstrated by studies on various molecular mechanisms of kinases and successful application of their inhibitors in diseases. Pseudokinases are members of kinase superfamily, which have been increasingly documented to play a crucial role in cancers year after year. As a member of pseudokinases, tribbles homolog 3 (TRIB3) also exerts diverse functions in different cancers through different interacting proteins and molecular pathways, especially in tumor immunity, stemness, drug resistance, metabolism and autophagy. In addition, peptide drugs targeting TRIB3 have high specificity in preclinical studies, which shows great promise for TRIB3 application in diseases including cancers. In this review, we dissect diverse functions played by TRIB3 in different cancers, describing the underlying mechanisms in detail. Notably, inhibitors and agonists currently available for TRIB3 are discussed, indicating potential for TRIB3 as a therapeutic target.
