Parkinson’s disease-associated protein Parkin: an unusual player in cancer

The mutation of the Parkin gene is a cause of familial Parkinson’s disease.A growing body of evidence suggests that Parkin also functions as a tumor suppressor.Parkin is an ubiquitin E3 ligase,and plays important roles in a variety of cellular processes implicated in tumorigenesis,including cell cycle,cell proliferation,apoptosis,metastasis,mitophagy and metabolic reprogramming.Here we review the role and mechanism of Parkin in cancer.