过去二十年对 Rab 样蛋白 1A (RBEL1A) 的研究凸显了该基因的致癌特性。尽管证据不断涌现，但它在癌症生物学中的重要性仍被低估。这是第一个 RBEL1A 严格审查，涵盖其发现、生物化学、生理功能和临床见解。正常细胞和组织中适当水平的 RBEL1A 表达对于维持染色体稳定性至关重要；然而，其过度表达与肿瘤发生有关。此外，还将讨论 RBEL1A 信号通路的上游和下游靶点。从机制上讲，RBEL1A 通过增强 Erk1/2、Akt、c-Myc 和 CDK 通路来促进细胞增殖信号，同时通过抑制 p53、Rb 和 caspase 通路来减弱细胞凋亡信号。更重要的是，这篇综述涵盖了RBEL1A在癌症领域的临床相关性，例如耐药性和较差的总体生存率。此外，本文还指出了 RBEL1A 研究的瓶颈及其未来的研究方向。越来越清楚的是，RBEL1A 有可能成为抗癌治疗的一个有价值的靶点。遗传和药理学研究有望促进未来 RBEL1A 抑制剂作为癌症治疗药物的鉴定和开发，这无疑可以改善人类恶性肿瘤的治疗。© 作者。

Research on Rab-like protein 1A (RBEL1A) in the past two decades highlighted the oncogenic properties of this gene. Despite the emerging evidence, its importance in cancer biology was underrated. This is the first RBEL1A critical review covering its discovery, biochemistry, physiological functions, and clinical insights. RBEL1A expression at the appropriate levels appears essential in normal cells and tissues to maintain chromosomal stability; however, its overexpression is linked to tumorigenesis. Furthermore, the upstream and downstream targets of the RBEL1A signaling pathways will be discussed. Mechanistically, RBEL1A promotes cell proliferation signals by enhancing the Erk1/2, Akt, c-Myc, and CDK pathways while blunting the apoptotic signals via inhibitions on p53, Rb, and caspase pathways. More importantly, this review covers the clinical relevance of RBEL1A in the cancer field, such as drug resistance and poor overall survival rate. Also, this review points out the bottle-necks of the RBEL1A research and its future research directions. It is becoming clear that RBEL1A could potentially serve as a valuable target of anticancer therapy. Genetic and pharmacological researches are expected to facilitate the identification and development of RBEL1A inhibitors as cancer therapeutics in the future, which could undoubtedly improve the management of human malignancy.© The author(s).