[HINT1--a novel tumor suppressor protein of the HIT superfamily].

The histidine triad nucleotide binding protein1 (Hint1) belongs to the first branch of the HIT superfamily. Hint1 catalyses the process of hydrolysis of the P-N bond in AMP-lysine, AMP-alanine, AMP-NH2. The physiological role of this enzyme is still unclear. There is accumulating evidence that HINT1 is a novel tumor suppressor protein, albeit the mechanism of action of HINT1 in respect to tumor suppression is not fully understood. Recent findings have shown that Hint1 inhibits the activity of the transcription factors AP1, MITF and USF2, as well as influences the transcription process of some genes of Wnt/beta-catenin pathway. Thereby, it seems that Hint1 exerts its major cellular function as gene transcription regulator, and thus, this function provides its potential role as a tumor suppressor protein. The clinical relevance of impairments in the Hint1 expression with the respect to specific human cancers is still a matter of extensive studies.