The Emerging Role of Sperm-Associated Antigen 6 Gene in the Microtubule Function of Cells and Cancer

Abstract

Accumulated evidence shows that sperm-associated antigen 6 (SPAG6) gene has multiple biological functions. It maintains the normal function of a variety of cells including ciliary/flagellar biogenesis and polarization, neurogenesis, and neuronal migration. Moreover, SPAG6 is found to be critically involved in auditory transduction and the fibroblast life cycle. Furthermore, SPAG6 plays an essential role in immuno-regulation. Notably, SPAG6 has been demonstrated to participate in the occurrence and progression of a variety of human cancers. New evidence shows that SPAG6 gene regulates tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and metastasis. Therefore, in this review, we describe the physiological function and mechanism of SPAG6 in human normal cells and cancer cells. We also highlight that SPAG6 gene may be an effective biomarker for the diagnosis of human cancer. Taken together, targeting SPAG6 could be a novel strategy for the treatment of human diseases including cancer. Keywords: SPAG6, microtubule, apoptosis, cancer, proliferation