The tumor protein D52 family: many pieces, many puzzles

Tumor protein D52-like proteins are small coiled-coil motif bearing proteins which are conserved from lower organisms to human. The founding member of the family, human D52, has principally attracted research interest due to its frequent overexpression in cancer, often in association with D52 gene amplification. This review summarises published literature concerning this protein family since their discovery, which is highlighting an increasing diversity of functions for D52-like proteins. This in turn highlights a need for more comparative functional analyses, to determine which functions are conserved and which may be isoform-specific. This knowledge will be crucial for any future manipulation of D52 function in human disease, including cancer.