You identify a cancer cell line (which can form tumors in nude mice) with an increased translational activity compared to its normal counterpart. There does not appear to be any increases in the levels of the translation initiation factors in the cancer cell line. Describe one mechanism that could lead to increased translational activity in these cancer cells. Increased Translational Activity in Cancer Cells Despite Unchanged Levels of Translation Initiation Factors

Unchanged levels of translation initiator factors have not affected the increased translational activity in cancer cells

According to a study published in the journal Molecular Cancer Research in 2018, “post-transcriptional regulation, including mRNA stability and translation, plays a crucial role in cancer progression” (Lin et al., 2018). In a second paper published in Nature Communications, in 2020, “abnormalities of the translational machine and mRNA process are frequent observed in cancer cell” (Zhanget al.2020). Alteration in microRNA expression could be a mechanism that causes cancer cells to have higher translational activity (Lin and al. 2018, 2018). Even though the levels of translation initiators remain constant, cancer cells have a higher level of translational activity than healthy cells. Post-transcriptional regulation could play a role in this phenomenon. Post-transcriptional regulation is an important mechanism that controls translational activity, according to studies (Hsieh and colleagues, 2016; Li and coworkers, 2021). It includes processes such as mRNA stability, secondary structure and post-transcriptional modification of initiation proteins, which may impact translation efficiency. Many factors may affect the post-transcriptional control of translation initiation proteins, including availability changes. Cont….