Dissecting the tRNA Fragment tRF3E-Nucleolin Interaction: Implications in Breast Cancer.

ABSTRACT: Nucleolin (NCL), an RNA-binding protein which regulates critical cellular processes, is frequently dysregulated in human cancers, including breast cancer, making it an attractive therapeutic target. However, molecular details of the RNA-NCL interaction have not been investigated yet. A tRNA fragment named tRF3E, displaying tumor suppressor roles in breast cancer, was found to bind NCL with high affinity displacing NCL-controlled transcripts. Here, we investigated the determinants and cooperativity of tRF3E-NCL interaction by Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assays and in silico docking analysis, using wild-type or mutated tRF3E. We found that NCL, through its RNA-binding domains (RBD1-2 and RBD3-4), binds simultaneously two tRF3E molecules, giving rise to an energetically favored complex. In

SUBMITTER: Falconi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12293987 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature