The role of protein arginine methylation 5 in DNA damage repair and cancer therapy

Abstract Protein arginine methylation, a post-translational modification (PTM), is fundamental in regulating protein function and stability. Among the nine protein methyl transferases (PRMT), PRMT5 plays a critical role in promoting oncogenic processes including tumor proliferation, invasiveness, immune escape and DNA damage repair through different signaling pathways. It is also a target in cancer therapy, with numerous inhibitors in clinical trial. In this review, we focus on the biological functions of PRMT5 in DNA damage repair and maintenance of genome stability in cancer, and summarize the development advance of PRMT5 inhibitors in cancer therapy.