CDC37 is a molecular chaperone that physically stabilizes the catalytic domains found in protein kinases and is therefore a wide-spectrum regulator of protein phosphorylation. It is also an overexpressed oncoprotein that mediates carcinogenesis by stabilizing the compromised structures of mutant and/or overexpressed oncogenic kinases. Recent work shows that such dependency of malignant cells on increased CDC37 expression is a vulnerability that can be targeted in cancer by agents that deplete or inhibit CDC37. CDC37 is thus a candidate for broad-spectrum molecular cancer therapy.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
