Enabling replicative immortality and uncontrolled cell cycle are hallmarks of cancer cells. Minichromosome maintenance proteins (MCMs) exhibit helicase activity in replication initiation and play vital roles in controlling replication times within a cell cycle. Overexpressed MCMs are detected in various cancerous tissues and cancer cell lines. Previous studies have proposed MCMs as promising proliferation markers in cancers, while the prognostic values remain controversial and the underlying mechanisms remain unascertained. This review provides an overview of the significant findings regarding the cellular and tumorigenic functions of the MCM family. Besides, current evidence of the prognostic roles of MCMs is retrospectively reviewed. This work also offers insight into the mechanisms of MCMs prompting carcinogenesis and adverse prognosis, providing information for future research. Finally, MCMs in liver cancer are specifically discussed, and future perspectives are provided.

中文翻译：

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癌症中的MCM：预后潜力和机制。

使复制永生和不受控制的细胞周期是癌细胞的标志。微型染色体维持蛋白（MCM）在复制起始中显示解旋酶活性，并在控制细胞周期内的复制时间中起着至关重要的作用。在各种癌组织和癌细胞系中检测到过表达的MCM。先前的研究已经提出，MCMs是癌症中有希望的增殖标志物，而其预后价值仍存在争议，其潜在机制仍不确定。这篇综述概述了有关MCM家族的细胞和致瘤功能的重要发现。此外，回顾性地回顾了MCM的预后作用的当前证据。这项工作还有助于深入了解MCM促进癌变和不良预后的机制，为将来的研究提供信息。最后，将详细讨论肝癌中的MCM，并提供未来的展望。