SRC - 3 : a transcriptional coactivator and therapeutic target in cancer

Steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3), also known as amplified in breast cancer 1 (AIB1), a transcription coactivator, is frequently overexpressed in multiple type of human cancers, including breast, ovarian, prostate, pancreatic, lung, and colorectal cancers. SRC-3 not only interacts with multiple nuclear hormone receptors but also broad-spectrum of non-nuclear-receptor transcription factors to enhance their transcriptional activities. Furthermore, dynamic posttranslational modifications of SRC-3 efficiently modulate this protein in different signaling pathways, and regulate its coactivator activity during transcription. In addition, SRC-3 modulates primary tumor initiation and expansion, and also plays important roles during tumor cell motility and invasion, and metastasis. As previous studies has validated SRC-3 as an oncogene, and indicated that SRC-3-dependent cancers are frequently resistant to traditional chemotherapeutics, the development of small molecule inhibitors that target SRC-3 becomes a feasible way to develop novel anti-cancer agents.