IMP-3

Insulin like growth factor II mRNA binding protein-3 (IMP-3) is an RNA binding protein. Its binding with insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) mRNA can participate in embryonic development of organs such as thymus, pancreas, intestine, and kidney. The content of IMP-3 in normal adults is very low, but it can be abnormally expressed in lung cancer, liver cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other tumors, and it is closely involved in the proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells. For example, IGF-II produced by IMP-3 stimulation can accelerate mitosis and activate the P13K/AKT or RAF/MAPK pathways to promote proliferation and inhibit apoptosis. Meanwhile, IMP-3 can affect cell adhesion proteins and extracellular matrix to participate in cell adhesion and migration. In addition, IMP-3 in cervical cancer may up-regulate TGF-β by binding to HMGA2, thereby inducing cytotoxic T cell inactivation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). IMP-3 can also be used to assist in distinguishing between leiomyoma (-) and leiomyosarcoma (+).