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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Development of Compendium for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Published on: April 12, 2024
OTUB1 promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma metastasis through modulating Snail stability
Honghong Zhou1,2, Yongshuo Liu1, Rui Zhu1
1State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Snail is a key regulator of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and plays an important role in tumor progression and metastasis. Snail is rapidly degraded in the cells and its protein level is critically controlled. Although several E3 ligases regulating Snail degradation have been defined, the deubiquitinases (DUBs) responsible for Snail deubiquitination are less studied. We identified ovarian tumor domain-containing ubiquitin aldehyde binding protein 1 (OTUB1) as a DUB that stabilizes Snail through preventing its ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. Functionally, OTUB1 facilitates metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) through promoting Snail protein stability. Moreover, OTUB1 is highly expressed in ESCC and higher expression of OTUB1 predicts poor prognosis. These findings suggest that OTUB1 is an essential regulator of Snail and plays a critical role in facilitating esophageal cancer progression.
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