REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Molecular Targets and Therapeutics
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1586137
This article is part of the Research TopicTargeting Cancer Metabolic Reprogramming for Cancer TherapyView all 3 articles
Mitochondrial ribosomal proteins: potential targets for cancer prognosis and therapy
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou, China
- 2Eighth Medical Center of the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Beijing, Beijing, China
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Mitochondrial ribosomal proteins (MRPs) are essential components of mitochondrial ribosomes, responsible for translating proteins encoded by mitochondrial DNA and maintaining mitochondrial energy metabolism and function. Emerging evidence suggests that MRPs exhibit significant expression changes in multiple cancer types, profoundly affecting tumor biology through modulating oxidative stress levels, inducing metabolic reprogramming, disrupting cell cycle regulation, inhibiting apoptosis, promoting mitophagy, and remodeling the tumor microenvironment. Specifically, MRPs have been implicated in tumor cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis, highlighting their potential as therapeutic targets. This review summarizes the multifaceted roles of MRPs in cancer, focusing on their impact on the tumor microenvironment and their potential as prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. We also explore the implications of MRPs in precision oncology, particularly in patient stratification and the design of metabolic targeted therapies, offering new insights and research directions for the precise prevention and treatment of cancer.
Keywords: mitochondrial ribosomes proteins, Cancer, Tumor Microenvironment, prognostic marker, Therapeutic target
Received: 02 Mar 2025; Accepted: 09 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Wen, Chen and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wen Chen, Eighth Medical Center of the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Beijing, Beijing, China
Haotian Yu, Eighth Medical Center of the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Beijing, Beijing, China
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