Yin yang 1: a potential regulator of immune related diseases and cancer immunity

Abstract

Yin Yang (YY1) is a context-dependent bifunctional transcription factor, activating or repressing target gene transcription via transcriptional or post-translational way, participate in multiple physiological processes including development, cell proliferation, differentiation, DNA repair and cell apoptosis. Recent reports show that YY1 also functions as a key transcription factor in immune response. Immune system dysfunction is closely related to various disease such as autoimmunity and cancer progression, how YY1 modulates immune related disease progression has not been systematically discussed. In addition, although YY1 has been widely reviewed to be a tumor promoter or suppressor, the role of YY1 in cancer immune microenvironment modulation and immune escape is not completely clear. This review provides an overview about the role of YY1 in immune related disease progression, and focused on discussing how YY1 affects cancer immune escape. Then we talked about recent strategies explored for YY1-targeted therapy including both preclinical and clinical studies. Finally, the challenges and limitations via targeting YY1 in future research is also discussed.