NSP 5alpha 3alpha is a novel structure protein with potential roles in ribosome biogenesis and rRNA metabolism/processing. NSP5a3a is highly expressed in certain tumor cell lines, and may serve as a good tumor marker. In these cancer lines, NSP5a3a has been shown to interact with the nucleolar apoptosis protein B23 and may be involved in a novel p73 dependent apoptosis mechanism. Therefore, NSP5a3a is expected to become an important potential target for future cancer treatment research.
