Role of TCTP in Cell Biological and Disease Processes

Dear Colleagues,

Translationally controlled tumour protein TCTP is a highly conserved, multifunctional protein present in almost all eukaryotic organisms. The protein is distinct from any other known protein families, but it interacts with a wide variety of client proteins. TCTP’s biological function can be broadly described as being cytoprotective; it is involved in promoting cell growth and developmental processes, and it protects cells under a range of biological stress conditions. Apart from acting at the cellular level, TCTP has been shown to be involved in extracellular functions that are typically part of anti-parasitic defence mechanisms or other aspects of host–parasite interactions.

Given the involvement of TCTP in several core cell biological processes, it is not surprising that an increasing number of diseases are being identified, where dysregulation of TCTP is shown to be involved. Apart from being overexpressed in a large number of human cancers, TCTP is also dysregulated in metabolic diseases, in processes of the immune system and in diseases affecting the circulatory system. These findings did already lead to first explorations of the possibility to exploit TCTP as a potential drug target, in particular in the area of cancer and allergy research.

Despite the large number of publications and review articles already published on this peculiar protein, we expect ‘TCTP’ to have still more interesting surprises in store for us. We presume that this ‘Special Issue’ of Cells will provide a suitable platform to both report and/or summarize the latest developments in the field.

We look forward to your upcoming contributions.

Prof. Ulrich-Axel Bommer
Prof. Toshiaki Kawakami
Guest Editors

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