MYC: there is more to it than cancer

Abstract

MYC; Non-oncological diseases; Transcription factor

MYC; Enfermedades no oncológicas; Factor de transcripcion

MYC; Malalties no oncològiques; Factor de transcripció

MYC is a pleiotropic transcription factor involved in multiple cellular processes. While its mechanism of action and targets are not completely elucidated, it has a fundamental role in cellular proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, ribogenesis, and bone and vascular development. Over 4 decades of research and some 10,000 publications linking it to tumorigenesis (by searching PubMed for "MYC oncogene") have led to MYC becoming a most-wanted target for the treatment of cancer, where many of MYC's physiological functions become co-opted for tumour initiation and maintenance. In this context, an abundance of reviews describes strategies for potentially targeting MYC in the oncology field. However, its multiple roles in different aspects of cellular biology suggest that it may also play a role in many additional diseases, and other publications are indeed linking MYC to pathologies beyond cancer. Here, we review these physiological functions and the current literature linking MYC to non-oncological diseases. The intense efforts towards developing MYC inhibitors as a cancer therapy will potentially have huge implications for the treatment of other diseases. In addition, with a complementary approach, we discuss some diseases and conditions where MYC appears to play a protective role and hence its increased expression or activation could be therapeutic.

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Authors acknowledge funding support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Fondo de Investigación en Salud [FIS] PI19/01277, the State Agency for Research (Agencia Estatal de Investigación) as a Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa (CEX 2020-001024-S/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), the Generalitat de Catalunya (AGAUR 2021/SGR 01509), and the FERO foundation.