Affinage

MEX3A

RNA-binding protein MEX3A · UniProt A1L020

Length
520 aa
Mass
54.2 kDa
Annotated
2026-04-28
52 papers in source corpus 28 papers cited in narrative 28 extracted findings

Mechanistic narrative

Synthesis pass · prose summary of the discoveries below

MEX3A is a dual-function RNA-binding E3 ubiquitin ligase that post-transcriptionally controls stem cell identity, quiescence, and differentiation across intestinal, neural, and olfactory epithelia. Its two KH domains bind specific 3′UTR elements in target mRNAs—including CDX2, LAMA2, MSH2, CDKN2B, IGFBP4, KLF4, and PPARG—and recruit the CCR4-NOT deadenylase complex or processing-body machinery to promote mRNA deadenylation and decay, while also enhancing translation of select transcripts through interaction with eIF4G (PMID:23408853, PMID:36112059, PMID:34976441, PMID:34547046, PMID:38565536). Its C-terminal RING domain confers E3 ubiquitin ligase activity that targets RIG-I and p53 for proteasomal degradation, linking MEX3A to immune evasion and ferroptosis suppression in cancer (PMID:32019099, PMID:36354374, PMID:35865536). MEX3A marks a slowly cycling, damage-resistant LGR5+ intestinal stem cell reservoir that survives chemotherapy and regenerates tissue or tumors through transient adoption of a fetal-like YAP+ progenitor state, and it similarly maintains quiescence programs in adult neural stem cells and prevents premature ER stress during olfactory receptor choice (PMID:28285904, PMID:35773527, PMID:36690670, PMID:40668674).

Mechanistic history

Synthesis pass · year-by-year structured walk · 13 steps
  1. 2013 High

    Establishing MEX3A as a post-transcriptional repressor of CDX2 answered how intestinal stem cell identity could be maintained at the mRNA level, linking an RNA-binding protein to differentiation control.

    Evidence 3′UTR binding assays and functional studies in murine intestinal cells showing CDX2 repression and upregulation of LGR5/BMI1/MSI1

    PMID:23408853

    Open questions at the time
    • Mechanism of mRNA decay not identified at this stage
    • Whether MEX3A acts alone or in a ribonucleoprotein complex was unknown
    • Relevance to in vivo stem cell dynamics not yet tested with lineage tracing
  2. 2017 High

    Lineage tracing revealed that MEX3A marks a functionally distinct, slowly cycling reserve subpopulation of LGR5+ intestinal stem cells, establishing that stem cell heterogeneity within the LGR5+ pool has functional consequences for tissue regeneration and chemoresistance.

    Evidence Lineage tracing, single-cell transcriptomics, and in vivo injury models in mice

    PMID:28285904

    Open questions at the time
    • Molecular targets of MEX3A that enforce quiescence were unidentified
    • Whether MEX3A was required cell-autonomously for the reserve phenotype was untested
  3. 2020 High

    Three concurrent advances defined MEX3A's dual molecular activities and in vivo requirement: (i) RING-domain-dependent E3 ligase activity targeting RIG-I for ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation, (ii) direct mRNA binding and destabilization of LAMA2 to activate PI3K/AKT, and (iii) genetic knockout showing that MEX3A is essential for Lgr5+ ISC pool maintenance via suppression of PPARγ and promotion of WNT signaling.

    Evidence Co-IP and ubiquitylation assays for RIG-I; RIP and mRNA stability assays for LAMA2; Mex3a knockout mice with transcriptomics and organoid phenotyping

    PMID:32019099 PMID:32052574 PMID:32792503

    Open questions at the time
    • The structural basis for KH-domain target selectivity was unresolved
    • Whether RNA-binding and E3 ligase functions are coupled or independent in the same cellular context was unknown
    • Neuroblast function observed in Xenopus (PMID:33072742) awaited mammalian validation
  4. 2021 High

    eCLIP-seq and RIP-seq mapped a transcriptome-wide binding landscape, identifying CDKN2B and MSH2 as direct mRNA targets, and demonstrated that MEX3A controls G1/S transition through CDKN2B 3′UTR-mediated degradation, while interaction with RAP1GAP linked MEX3A to MEK/ERK signaling in colorectal cancer.

    Evidence eCLIP-seq/RIP-seq in renal carcinoma; co-IP and MEK/ERK inhibitor rescue in CRC cells

    PMID:33638620 PMID:34976441

    Open questions at the time
    • Whether MEX3A degrades CDKN2B mRNA via CCR4-NOT or another decay pathway was not tested
    • RAP1GAP interaction lacked reciprocal validation and domain mapping
  5. 2021 High

    Discovery that MEX3A interacts with eIF4G and enhances translation of Andes virus SmRNA via its 3′UTR revealed an unexpected translational activator function, demonstrating that MEX3A can both destabilize and promote translation of different mRNAs.

    Evidence RNA affinity chromatography/mass spectrometry identification, in vitro translation assay, co-IP of MEX3A–eIF4G

    PMID:34547046

    Open questions at the time
    • Whether the translational enhancer function operates on endogenous cellular mRNAs was unknown
    • Structural basis of eIF4G interaction was not mapped
  6. 2022 High

    Identification of CCR4-NOT recruitment as the mechanism of MSH2 mRNA deadenylation by MEX3A resolved how MEX3A destabilizes target mRNAs, and linked this activity to DNA mismatch repair deficiency and temozolomide resistance in glioblastoma.

    Evidence RIP, CCR4-NOT complex interaction assay, mRNA deadenylation assay, MMR activity measurement in GBM cells

    PMID:36112059

    Open questions at the time
    • Whether CCR4-NOT recruitment is the universal decay mechanism for all MEX3A mRNA targets or target-specific
    • The MEX3A–CCR4-NOT binding interface was not structurally defined
  7. 2022 High

    Demonstration that MEX3A's RING domain ubiquitylates p53 protein (without affecting p53 mRNA) to suppress ferroptosis established a second validated E3 ligase substrate, and RING domain mutagenesis of the fish ortholog confirmed RING-dependence for RIG-I degradation.

    Evidence Protein stability assays with mRNA controls and rescue in ovarian cancer; RING truncation mutagenesis and ubiquitylation assays in grass carp

    PMID:35865536 PMID:36354374

    Open questions at the time
    • Ubiquitin chain type (K48 vs K63) and specific lysine sites on p53 were not mapped
    • Whether MEX3A auto-ubiquitylates was not addressed
  8. 2022 High

    Lineage tracing in CRC mouse models and patient-derived organoids showed that Mex3a+ cancer cells survive chemotherapy and regenerate tumors by transiently adopting a YAP+ fetal progenitor-like state, mechanistically linking MEX3A to cancer stem cell plasticity and therapeutic resistance.

    Evidence Patient-derived organoids, lineage tracing in CRC mouse models, MEX3A loss-of-function with transcriptomic profiling

    PMID:35773527

    Open questions at the time
    • Direct MEX3A mRNA targets mediating the YAP+ state transition were not identified
    • Whether pharmacological targeting of MEX3A can prevent tumor regeneration was untested
  9. 2022 High

    CLIP-seq identification of KLF4 as a direct MEX3A target in CRC, and discovery that MEX3A suppresses KLF4 to activate WNT and block differentiation, revealed a second differentiation-gating axis complementary to CDX2 repression; E2F3 was identified as an upstream transcriptional activator of MEX3A.

    Evidence CLIP-seq, luciferase reporter, MEX3A KO and cKO mouse models, organoid experiments

    PMID:36276637

    Open questions at the time
    • Whether KLF4 and CDX2 are co-targeted in the same cell or represent context-dependent targets
    • SMYD2-mediated H3K36me2 activation of MEX3A (PMID:35637161) was from a single lab and not integrated with E2F3 regulation
  10. 2023 High

    Conditional knockout in adult neural stem cells demonstrated that MEX3A functions as a translational remodeler of quiescence-related RNA signatures, establishing a conserved role beyond the intestine in controlling the quiescence-to-activation transition in the neurogenic niche.

    Evidence Conditional KO in murine subependymal zone NSCs, transcriptomic/proteomic analysis, lineage tracing

    PMID:36690670

    Open questions at the time
    • Specific mRNA targets mediating the quiescence program in NSCs were not defined
    • Whether MEX3A's E3 ligase activity contributes to NSC quiescence regulation was not tested
  11. 2023 Medium

    Mapping the upstream signaling cascade showed that IGF-1R–phosphorylated β-arrestin-2 opens its middle loop to recruit MEX3A's RING domain, triggering RIG-I ubiquitylation and IFN-I suppression, placing MEX3A E3 ligase activity under receptor tyrosine kinase control.

    Evidence Structural modeling, β-arrestin-2 phospho-mutant analysis, peptide inhibition, RIG-I degradation assay in CRC cells

    PMID:37521868

    Open questions at the time
    • Structural model awaits experimental validation by crystallography or cryo-EM
    • Whether β-arrestin-2 regulation extends to MEX3A's p53 ligase activity is unknown
  12. 2024 Medium

    Discovery that MEX3A undergoes IDR-dependent liquid-liquid phase separation and that circMPP6 scaffolds its interaction with processing body components to drive UPF-mediated PDE5A mRNA decay revealed a phase-separation mechanism for organizing MEX3A's mRNA decay function.

    Evidence LLPS assay, IDR deletion constructs, RNA pulldown, PB dynamics imaging, mRNA decay assay

    PMID:38565536

    Open questions at the time
    • Whether LLPS is required for all MEX3A-mediated mRNA decay or is target-specific
    • In vivo relevance of circMPP6-scaffolded phase separation not demonstrated
  13. 2025 High

    Conditional Mex3a deletion in immature olfactory sensory neurons revealed that MEX3A post-transcriptionally silences olfactory receptor mRNAs to prevent premature ER stress during polygenic OR transcription, establishing a new role in sensory neuron specification and circuit assembly.

    Evidence Conditional KO mouse, ER stress reporter, OR gene expression analysis, olfactory bulb glomerular mapping

    PMID:40668674

    Open questions at the time
    • Whether MEX3A destabilizes OR mRNAs via CCR4-NOT or a distinct mechanism is unknown
    • Whether MEX3A also ubiquitylates OR proteins in this context was not tested

Open questions

Synthesis pass · forward-looking unresolved questions
  • Major unresolved questions include: the structural basis for KH-domain target mRNA selectivity, whether RNA-binding and E3 ligase activities are coupled or independent in individual cellular contexts, the full spectrum of ubiquitin substrates and chain types, and whether MEX3A can be pharmacologically targeted to overcome chemoresistance.
  • No crystal or cryo-EM structure of MEX3A or its domains bound to RNA/protein substrates
  • No systematic ubiquitin substrate screen has been performed
  • Therapeutic targeting strategies have not been explored

Mechanism profile

Synthesis pass · controlled-vocabulary classification · explore literature graph →
Molecular activity
GO:0003723 RNA binding 9 GO:0016874 ligase activity 3 GO:0098772 molecular function regulator activity 3 GO:0140096 catalytic activity, acting on a protein 3 GO:0140098 catalytic activity, acting on RNA 3
Localization
GO:0005829 cytosol 1 GO:0031410 cytoplasmic vesicle 1
Pathway
R-HSA-162582 Signal Transduction 7 R-HSA-1266738 Developmental Biology 5 R-HSA-8953854 Metabolism of RNA 4 R-HSA-1643685 Disease 3 R-HSA-392499 Metabolism of proteins 3
Partners
ARRB2DVL3EIF4G1RAP1GAPRBM15BRIG-ITP53
Complex memberships
CCR4-NOT deadenylase complex

Evidence

Reading pass · 28 per-paper findings extracted from the source corpus
Year Finding Method Journal Conf PMIDs
2013 MEX3A binds a specific determinant in the CDX2 mRNA 3'UTR to repress CDX2 expression post-transcriptionally, impairs intestinal differentiation and cellular polarization, affects cell cycle progression, and promotes expression of intestinal stem cell markers LGR5, BMI1 and MSI1 RNA binding assay (3'UTR interaction), cell-based functional assays, expression studies in murine intestine Nucleic acids research High 23408853
2017 MEX3A expression marks a slowly cycling, reserve-like subpopulation of LGR5+ intestinal stem cells that preferentially survive chemotherapy/radiation and contribute to intestinal regeneration after toxic insults Lineage tracing, single-cell transcriptome profiling, in vivo mouse models Cell stem cell High 28285904
2020 MEX3A binds LAMA2 mRNA directly (RIP assay) and increases LAMA2 mRNA instability in lung adenocarcinoma cells, thereby downregulating LAMA2 and promoting metastasis via the PI3K/AKT pathway RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), mRNA stability assay, knockdown/rescue experiments, in vivo metastasis model Cell death & disease Medium 32792503
2020 MEX3A acts as an E3 ubiquitin ligase that binds RIG-I, induces its ubiquitylation and proteasome-dependent degradation, thereby suppressing RIG-I tumor suppressor function in glioblastoma Co-immunoprecipitation, ubiquitylation assay, proteasome inhibitor rescue, MEX3A depletion with RIG-I protein level measurement Cancers High 32019099
2020 MEX3A knockout in mice disrupts Lgr5+ intestinal stem cell pool maintenance, impairs epithelial turnover, and activates the PPARγ pathway while decreasing WNT signalling; PPARγ activity is identified as a molecular intermediate of MEX3A-mediated ISC regulation Mex3a knockout mouse model, transcriptomic profiling of intestinal crypts, organoid maturation assay, PPARγ pathway pharmacological manipulation EMBO reports High 32052574
2021 MEX3A interacts with RAP1GAP via co-immunoprecipitation and regulates the RAP1GAP/MEK/ERK/HIF-1α signaling pathway to promote colorectal cancer oncogenesis Co-immunoprecipitation, transcriptome sequencing, MEK/ERK inhibitor rescue (U0126), HIF-1α inhibitor rescue (PX-478) Cancer communications Medium 33638620
2021 MEX3A functions as a translational remodeller of quiescence-related RNA signatures in adult neural stem cells (NSCs) of the subependymal zone, regulating their return to quiescence and repressing the same program at neuronal differentiation onset Conditional knockout in adult murine NSCs, transcriptomic/proteomic analysis, lineage tracing in neurogenic niche Nature communications High 36690670
2022 MEX3A binds the MEX3 recognition element (MRE) in MSH2 mRNA and recruits CCR4-NOT complexes to induce MSH2 mRNA deadenylation and degradation, thereby reducing DNA mismatch repair activity and conferring temozolomide resistance in glioblastoma RNA immunoprecipitation, CCR4-NOT complex interaction assay, mRNA stability/deadenylation assay, MEX3A overexpression/depletion with MMR activity assay, chemosensitivity assay Cancer research High 36112059
2022 MEX3A uses its RING finger domain as an E3 ubiquitin ligase to mediate p53 protein degradation (without altering p53 mRNA), thereby suppressing ferroptosis and enhancing tumorigenesis in wild-type p53 ovarian cancer cells MEX3A depletion/overexpression with p53 protein stability measurement, mRNA level controls, xenograft tumor models, p53 knockdown rescue experiments Cancer research High 36354374
2022 MEX3A directly suppresses KLF4 expression (via RNA CLIP-based binding) to activate the WNT pathway and maintain cancer cells in an undifferentiated, proliferative state; E2F3 transcriptionally induces MEX3A upstream in this axis RNA crosslinking immunoprecipitation (CLIP) sequencing, RNA-seq, luciferase reporter assay, MEX3A KO and cKO mouse models, organoid experiments Theranostics High 36276637
2022 MEX3A interacts with DVL3 (a positive regulator of WNT/β-catenin) via co-immunoprecipitation to stabilize β-catenin and upregulate downstream target gene expression, promoting EMT in endometrial carcinoma Co-immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, GSEA, in vitro and in vivo functional assays International journal of molecular sciences Medium 36614043
2022 MEX3A promotes intron retention in TIMELESS mRNA, leading to decreased TIMELESS mRNA through nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD), and TIMELESS overexpression partially rescues proliferation upon MEX3A knockdown in ovarian cancer RNA-seq alternative splicing analysis, MEX3A knockdown, NMD pathway assay, rescue with TIMELESS overexpression Cell death & disease Medium 35715407
2021 MEX3A binds MSH2 mRNA through its KH domains and controls G1/S transition in clear cell renal cell carcinoma by binding the CDKN2B 3'UTR and promoting its mRNA degradation, identified by eCLIP-seq and RIP-seq Enhanced CLIP-seq (eCLIP), RIP-seq, 3'UTR binding assay, cell cycle analysis, rescue experiments Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids High 34976441
2021 hMex3A binds to the ANDV SmRNA 3'UTR (identified by RNA affinity chromatography + mass spectrometry) and enhances ANDV SmRNA translation in a 3'UTR-dependent manner; hMex3A interacts with eIF4G independently of ANDV infection RNA affinity chromatography, mass spectrometry, in vitro translation assay, co-immunoprecipitation (hMex3A–eIF4G interaction) PLoS pathogens High 34547046
2022 In grass carp (ortholog CiMex3A), the RING domain is required for MEX3A-mediated ubiquitylation and degradation of RIG-I; RING domain truncation retains RIG-I binding but abolishes degradation, confirming RING-dependent E3 ligase activity toward RIG-I RING domain truncation mutagenesis, co-immunoprecipitation, ubiquitylation assay, co-localization analysis Frontiers in immunology High 35865536
2023 IGF-1R activates β-arrestin-2 by phosphorylating Tyr64 and Tyr250 on its interdomain, which opens the middle loop of β-arrestin-2 to interact with the RING domain of MEX3A, thereby triggering MEX3A-mediated RIG-I ubiquitylation and degradation to suppress IFN-I immune signaling in colorectal cancer Structural modeling of βarr2/IGF-1Rβ and βarr2/MEX3A complexes, point mutant analysis (βarr2Y64A, βarr2Y250A), truncated-βarr2 and peptide inhibition experiments, RIG-I degradation assay Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B Medium 37521868
2022 Mex3a+ cancer cells in colorectal cancer adopt a latent LGR5+ state with chemoresistance; after chemotherapy, Mex3a+ cells downregulate WNT/stem cell programs and transiently adopt a YAP+ fetal intestinal progenitor-like state to regenerate the tumor; Mex3a-deficient cells differentiate toward goblet cell-like phenotype and cannot resist chemotherapy Patient-derived organoids, lineage tracing in CRC mouse models, transcriptomic profiling, MEX3A loss-of-function Nature cancer High 35773527
2023 BMAL1 directly activates Mex3a transcription, and MEX3A in turn binds to and stabilizes Lgr5 mRNA, maintaining LGR5+ crypt base columnar cell homeostasis; Bmal1 depletion reduces Mex3a and Lgr5 expression and increases ferroptosis in crypt cells ChIP/transcription activation assay, RNA binding/stability assay, Bmal1/Mex3a depletion in intestinal organoids, ferroptosis assay Scientific reports Medium 37845346
2023 MEX3A knockdown in hepatocellular carcinoma facilitates WWC1 expression (a negative regulator of Hippo signaling), leading to increased phosphorylation of LATS1 and YAP1, thereby inactivating Hippo signaling and reducing proliferation and sorafenib resistance MEX3A knockdown/overexpression, LATS1 phosphorylation assay, WWC1 depletion rescue, pharmacological LATS1 inhibition, in vivo xenograft models Hepatology international Medium 37460832
2024 MEX3A undergoes intrinsically disordered region (IDR)-dependent liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) in the cytoplasm; circMPP6 acts as a scaffold to facilitate MEX3A interaction with processing body (PB) proteins, and the MEX3A/circMPP6 complex promotes UPF-mediated PDE5A mRNA degradation by modulating PB dynamics LLPS assay, IDR deletion constructs, RNA pulldown, co-immunoprecipitation, mRNA decay assay, PB dynamics imaging Signal transduction and targeted therapy Medium 38565536
2025 MEX3A post-transcriptionally silences olfactory receptor (OR) mRNAs in immature olfactory sensory neurons to prevent premature ER stress during the polygenic OR transcription stage; conditional Mex3a deletion causes premature ER stress that biases OR choice and disrupts glomerular map assembly in the olfactory bulb Conditional knockout mouse, lineage-specific deletion, ER stress reporter assay, OR gene expression analysis, olfactory bulb glomerular mapping Cell reports High 40668674
2023 MEX3A binds the IGFBP4 mRNA in breast cancer cells (RNA pulldown + RIP), decreases IGFBP4 mRNA levels, and thereby activates PI3K/AKT and downstream signaling pathways to promote cell cycle progression and migration RNA pulldown, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), MEX3A knockdown with IGFBP4 mRNA stability measurement, PI3K/AKT pathway activation assay Breast cancer research and treatment Medium 37433992
2022 SMYD2 activates MEX3A expression by promoting H3K36me2 modification on the MEX3A promoter (validated by ChIP-qPCR); MEX3A in turn suppresses CDX2 to augment CRC progression Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-qPCR, SMYD2 knockdown/overexpression, MEX3A/CDX2 rescue experiments Clinical and experimental pharmacology & physiology Medium 35637161
2025 MEX3A interacts with RBM15B via co-immunoprecipitation in breast cancer cells and promotes seRNA m6A methylation; the MEX3A/RBM15B/IGF2BP3 complex maintains KMT2C mRNA stability, enhancing seRNA m6A modification and H3K4me1 formation to drive breast cancer aggressiveness Co-immunoprecipitation (MEX3A–RBM15B), methylated RNA immunoprecipitation (MeRIP), FISH co-localization, functional proliferation/metastasis assays Translational oncology Medium 41161249
2020 Mex3A in Xenopus embryos and mouse is required for neuroblast proliferation; depletion reduces the neuroblast pool causing microcephaly, while overexpression in the neural plate enhances sox2 and msi-1 expression to maintain neuroblasts in a proliferative state Gain- and loss-of-function in Xenopus embryos, in situ expression analysis, quantification of neuroblast pool Frontiers in cell and developmental biology Medium 33072742
2025 MEX3A depletion in OCCC cells causes chronic mitochondrial fragmentation, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, increased superoxide, decreased NAD+/NADH ratio, inhibition of OXPHOS and reduced ATP; MEX3A-depleted cells fail to survive mitophagy stress in liver-like environments, greatly reducing liver metastasis in vivo Mitochondrial morphology imaging, membrane potential assay, ROS measurement, NAD+/NADH ratio assay, Seahorse OXPHOS assay, mitophagy stress survival assay, in vivo liver metastasis model bioRxivpreprint Medium bio_10.1101_2025.11.05.686880
2025 Loss of Mex3a in immature olfactory sensory neurons leads to defects in cilia structure, cell surface protein expression, and planar cell polarity; proteomics reveal Mex3a-dependent reduction in vesicle transport, lipid metabolism, and ribosome biogenesis proteins; Mex3a may confer K27 ubiquitin linkage on Serbp1 and Rps7, and modulates recruitment of translation factors Serbp1 and p-eEF2 to ribosomes Mex3a conditional KO, proteomics, RNA binding target identification, ubiquitin linkage analysis, ribosome fractionation bioRxivpreprint Medium 41726993
2025 HyperTRIBE assay confirms a direct interaction between MEX3A and PPARG transcripts; MEX3A depletion in patient-derived CRC tumoroids increases PPARγ expression, decreases LGR5, and enhances sensitivity to FOLFOX chemotherapy; Apc-mutant Mex3a heterozygous mice show reduced tumor burden HyperTRIBE (RNA target identification), CRISPR/Cas9 MEX3A KO in patient-derived tumoroids, Apc/Mex3a compound mouse models, FOLFOX sensitivity assay bioRxivpreprint Medium bio_10.1101_2025.01.13.632758

Source papers

Stage 0 corpus · 52 papers · ranked by NIH iCite citations
Year Title Journal Citations PMID
2017 Mex3a Marks a Slowly Dividing Subpopulation of Lgr5+ Intestinal Stem Cells. Cell stem cell 159 28285904
2020 Mex3a interacts with LAMA2 to promote lung adenocarcinoma metastasis via PI3K/AKT pathway. Cell death & disease 123 32792503
2022 Mex3a marks drug-tolerant persister colorectal cancer cells that mediate relapse after chemotherapy. Nature cancer 96 35773527
2023 MEX3A Mediates p53 Degradation to Suppress Ferroptosis and Facilitate Ovarian Cancer Tumorigenesis. Cancer research 82 36354374
2021 Mex3a promotes oncogenesis through the RAP1/MAPK signaling pathway in colorectal cancer and is inhibited by hsa-miR-6887-3p. Cancer communications (London, England) 81 33638620
2013 CDX2 regulation by the RNA-binding protein MEX3A: impact on intestinal differentiation and stemness. Nucleic acids research 78 23408853
2020 The RNA-Binding Ubiquitin Ligase MEX3A Affects Glioblastoma Tumorigenesis by Inducing Ubiquitylation and Degradation of RIG-I. Cancers 52 32019099
2021 MEX3A contributes to development and progression of glioma through regulating cell proliferation and cell migration and targeting CCL2. Cell death & disease 32 33414423
2024 Mex-3 RNA binding family member A (MEX3A)/circMPP6 complex promotes colorectal cancer progression by inhibiting autophagy. Signal transduction and targeted therapy 28 38565536
2020 MEX3A knockdown inhibits the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Cancer cell international 26 32140076
2022 Identifying the E2F3-MEX3A-KLF4 signaling axis that sustains cancer cells in undifferentiated and proliferative state. Theranostics 25 36276637
2022 MEX3A Impairs DNA Mismatch Repair Signaling and Mediates Acquired Temozolomide Resistance in Glioblastoma. Cancer research 24 36112059
2020 MEX3A regulates Lgr5+ stem cell maintenance in the developing intestinal epithelium. EMBO reports 24 32052574
2022 MEX3A promotes the malignant progression of ovarian cancer by regulating intron retention in TIMELESS. Cell death & disease 23 35715407
2020 The Stemness Gene Mex3A Is a Key Regulator of Neuroblast Proliferation During Neurogenesis. Frontiers in cell and developmental biology 21 33072742
2021 MEX3A suppresses proliferation and EMT via inhibiting Akt signaling pathway in cervical cancer. American journal of cancer research 20 33948367
2021 Oncogenic Potential of the Dual-Function Protein MEX3A. Biology 19 34067172
2021 Mex-3 RNA binding MEX3A promotes the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells via regulating RhoA/ROCK1/LIMK1 signaling pathway. Bioengineered 19 34486491
2020 MEX3A promotes triple negative breast cancer proliferation and migration via the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Experimental cell research 19 32738346
2021 Targeting MEX3A attenuates metastasis of breast cancer via β-catenin signaling pathway inhibition. Cancer letters 18 34425185
2017 Mex3a expression and survival analysis of bladder urothelial carcinoma. Oncotarget 17 28903380
2023 MEX3A determines in vivo hepatocellular carcinoma progression and induces resistance to sorafenib in a Hippo-dependent way. Hepatology international 16 37460832
2022 MEX3A promotes nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression via the miR-3163/SCIN axis by regulating NF-κB signaling pathway. Cell death & disease 16 35490173
2021 MEX3A promotes development and progression of breast cancer through regulation of PIK3CA. Experimental cell research 15 33811903
2020 MEX3A is upregulated in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and promotes development and progression of ESCC through targeting CDK6. Aging 15 33188661
2022 Grass Carp Mex3A Promotes Ubiquitination and Degradation of RIG-I to Inhibit Innate Immune Response. Frontiers in immunology 14 35865536
2023 MEX3A promotes angiogenesis in colorectal cancer via glycolysis. The Libyan journal of medicine 13 37155144
2022 RNA-Binding Protein MEX3A Interacting with DVL3 Stabilizes Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling in Endometrial Carcinoma. International journal of molecular sciences 13 36614043
2023 Post-transcriptional control of a stemness signature by RNA-binding protein MEX3A regulates murine adult neurogenesis. Nature communications 12 36690670
2021 The effects of MEX3A knockdown on proliferation, apoptosis and migration of osteosarcoma cells. Cancer cell international 12 33827584
2023 Activation of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) promotes growth of colorectal cancer through triggering the MEX3A-mediated degradation of RIG-I. Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B 11 37521868
2021 RNA-binding protein MEX3A controls G1/S transition via regulating the RB/E2F pathway in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids 11 34976441
2021 MEX3A knockdown inhibits the tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer via modulating CDK2 expression. Experimental and therapeutic medicine 10 34630697
2023 The RNA binding protein MEX3A promotes tumor progression of breast cancer by post-transcriptional regulation of IGFBP4. Breast cancer research and treatment 9 37433992
2024 MEX3A promotes colorectal cancer migration, invasion and EMT via regulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology 8 38914858
2023 Core clock gene BMAL1 and RNA-binding protein MEX3A collaboratively regulate Lgr5 expression in intestinal crypt cells. Scientific reports 7 37845346
2022 SMYD2 epigenetically activates MEX3A and suppresses CDX2 in colorectal cancer cells to augment cancer growth. Clinical and experimental pharmacology & physiology 7 35637161
2021 The viral nucleocapsid protein and the human RNA-binding protein Mex3A promote translation of the Andes orthohantavirus small mRNA. PLoS pathogens 7 34547046
2025 MEX3A promotes cell proliferation by regulating the RORA/β-catenin pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma. World journal of gastrointestinal oncology 5 40235874
2023 MEX3A induces the development of thyroid cancer via targeting CREB1. Cell biology international 5 37529875
2024 Mex3a promoter hypomethylation can be utilized to diagnose HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma: a randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in pharmacology 4 39564121
2024 The loach haplotype-resolved genome and the identification of Mex3a involved in fish air breathing. Cell genomics 3 39389021
2021 MicroRNA-139-5p Suppresses Cell Malignant Behaviors in Breast Cancer through Targeting MEX3A. Computational and mathematical methods in medicine 3 34765013
2025 Mex3a-dependent post-transcriptional silencing ensures olfactory receptor diversity and axon guidance specificity. Cell reports 2 40668674
2025 MEX3A activates the JAK-STAT pathway to suppress NK cell cytotoxicity and accelerate lung adenocarcinoma progression. Cellular immunology 1 40554097
2025 Role of MEX3A in tumorigenesis: Mechanisms, tumor‑specific effects and therapeutic implications (Review). International journal of molecular medicine 1 40641106
2025 MEX3A-mediated super-enhancer RNA m6A methylation promotes aggressiveness of breast cancer via regulating RBM15B/IGF2BP3/KMT2C signaling. Translational oncology 1 41161249
2024 Hsa_circ_0008133 contributes to lung cancer progression by promoting glycolysis metabolism through the miR-760/MEX3A axis. Environmental toxicology 1 38317294
2026 Matrine functions as a tumor inhibitor to influence proliferation, metastasis and glycolysis in colorectal cancer via depending on METTL14-mediated m6A methylation of MEX3A. Molecular and cellular biochemistry 0 41525024
2026 Stemness factor Mex3a times translation and protein trafficking to ensure robust differentiation of olfactory sensory neurons. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 0 41726993
2025 MEX3A promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation and migration via the Wnt/β-catenin and EMT pathways. World journal of gastrointestinal oncology 0 41114094
2023 Retracted: MicroRNA-139-5p Suppresses Cell Malignant Behaviors in Breast Cancer through Targeting MEX3A. Computational and mathematical methods in medicine 0 37811289