Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation in Cancer Signaling, Metabolism and Anticancer Therapy

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Emerging evidence shows that the organization of the cells into membraneless sub-compartments confers unique properties to cancer cells. The biochemical and biophysical mechanisms underpinning the formation of these compartments, also called biological condensates, enlighten how some mutations and gene expression changes contribute to cancer formation and progression. ABSTRACT: The cancer state is thought to be maintained by genetic and epigenetic changes that drive a cancer-promoting gene expression program. However, recent results show that cellular states can be also stably maintained by the reorganization of cell structure leading to the formation of biological condensates via the process of liquid–liquid phase separation. Here, we review the data showing cancer-specific biological condensates initiated by mutant oncoproteins, RNA-binding proteins, or lincRNAs that regulate oncogenic gene expression programs and cancer metabolism. Effective anticancer drugs may specifically partition into oncogenic biological condensates (OBC).