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“Background Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are a class of epigenetic regulators, which always form multiprotein complexes to exert their functions in regulating cell proliferation, senescence and tumorigenesis via well-known growth regulatory pathways [1]. More and more studies have implicated the deregulation of different PcG proteins

in carcinogenesis and neoplastic progression. Bmi-1 is one of the best known PcG gene, which was initially learn more identified for its ability to cooperate with c-Myc in lymphomagenesis and subsequently was found to be overexpressed in many kinds of human cancers and thus was accepted as an oncogene [2–10]. Overexpression of Bmi-1 has been shown to immortalize and transform normal human cells via inhibiting cellular senescence, which constitutes a powerful barrier to oncogenesis [8, 11]. INK4A/ARF tumor suppressor locus is one of the most important cancer relevant targets of Bmi-1. We have

found that regulation of AKT/PKB pathway is another important mechanism for Bmi-1 in breast and RG-7388 gastric cancers [8, 10]. CBX7, another PcG protein, shares no homology with Bmi-1 but was found to have similar functions and mechanisms as Bmi-1 that inhibits cellular senescence and extends the lifespan of normal human cells via downregulating the expression of INK4a/ARF locus, and cooperates with OSI-906 supplier c-Myc in lymphomagenesis [7, 8, 11]. These data suggested that CBX7 functions as an oncogene like Bmi-1. However, several recent studies showed that decrease or loss of CBX7 protein expression correlated with a more aggressive phenotype in pancreatic, thyroid and colorectal cancer, which suggested that CBX7 might act as a potential tumor suppressor [12–14]. The results are controversial and the functions and mechanisms of CBX7 in caicinogenesis are still far from clear. The opposite expression level of CBX7 in different studies may due to the different cancer types. Its role RVX-208 in different cancer types and different pathological conditions needs to be clarified.

Regulation of INK4a/ARF locus by CBX7 also needs further confirmation in cancer cells. Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies throughout the world, and mechanisms that underlie the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer are still poorly understood. Recently we found that Bmi-1 plays an important role in the carcinogenesis and progression of gastric cancer and acts as an oncogene [10]. Does CBX7 also play a role in the carcinogenesis and progression of gastric cancer needs to be studied. One newly published paper revealed that CBX7 might be negatively regulated by miRNA421 in gastric cancer cell line [15], though the expression and function of CBX7 in gastric cancer are still unclear.