c-Myc

Class

Small molecule (cMyc-targeting agent)

Pathway

MYC oncogenic transcriptional program

c-Myc is a transcription factor, a protein that binds DNA and controls which genes are turned into RNA and protein. It functions as a master regulator of cell growth, controlling programs for cell division, metabolism, and protein synthesis. In normal cells, c-Myc levels are tightly controlled and rise only transiently in response to growth signals. In many cancers, genetic alterations cause c-Myc to be persistently overproduced or stabilized, driving an oncogenic transcriptional program that pushes cells into continuous proliferation and supports the metabolic demands of rapid growth. Because c-Myc sits downstream of multiple growth-signaling pathways and upstream of a broad set of proliferative genes, it is considered a convergence point in oncogenesis, present in a wide range of tumor types. This has made it an attractive but historically difficult drug target: it lacks the enzymatic pocket or accessible binding surface typical of most drugged proteins, since it works by binding DNA and partner proteins rather than through catalysis. Efforts to modulate c-Myc aim to interrupt its transcriptional activity, its interaction with binding partners, or the stability of the protein itself, with the goal of shutting down the growth program in tumors that depend heavily on elevated c-Myc activity.