Oncogenic and tumor suppressive roles of special AT-rich sequence-binding protein

In recent years, research efforts have been centered on the functional roles of special AT-rich sequence-binding protein (SATB2) in cancer development. Existing studies differ in the types of tumor tissues and cell lines used, resulting in mixed results, which hinder the clear understanding of whether SATB2 acts as a tumor suppressor or promoter. Literature search for this review consisted of a basic search on PubMed using keywords "SATB2" and "special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2." Each article was then selected for further examination based on relevance of the title. In consideration to possible missing data from a primary PubMed search, after coding for relevant information, articles listed in the references section were filtered for further review. The current literature suggests that SATB2 can act both as a tumor suppressor and as a promoter since it can be regulated by multiple factors and is able to target different downstream genes in various types of cancer cell lines as well as tissues. Future studies should focus on its contradictory roles in different types of tumors. This paper provides a comprehensive review of currently available research on the role of SATB2 in different cancer cells and tissues and may provide some insight into the contradictory roles of SATB2 in cancer development.