Therapeutic strategies to inhibit MYC

MYC is a master regulator of stem cell state, embryogenesis, tissue homeostasis, and aging. As in health, in disease MYC figures prominently. Decades of biological research have identified a central role for MYC in the pathophysiology of cancer, inflammation, and heart disease. The centrality of MYC to such a vast breadth of disease biology has attracted significant attention to the historic challenge of developing inhibitors of MYC. This review will discuss therapeutic strategies toward the development of inhibitors of MYC-dependent transcriptional signaling, efforts to modulate MYC stability, and the elusive goal of developing potent, direct-acting inhibitors of MYC.