Cleavage of nascent transcripts is a fundamental process for eukaryotic mRNA maturation and for the production of different mRNA isoforms. In eukaryotes, cleavage of mRNA precursors by the highly conserved endonuclease CPSF73 is critical for mRNA stability, export from the nucleus, and translation. As an essential enzyme in the cell, CPSF73 surprisingly shows promise as a drug target for specific cancers and for protozoan parasites. In this review, we cover our current understanding of CPSF73 in cleavage and polyadenylation, histone pre-mRNA processing, and transcription termination. We discuss the potential of CPSF73 as a target for novel therapeutics and highlight further research into the regulation of CPSF73 that will be critical to understanding its role in cancer and other diseases.

新生转录本的切割是真核 mRNA 成熟和不同 mRNA 亚型产生的基本过程。在真核生物中，高度保守的核酸内切酶 CPSF73 对 mRNA 前体的切割对于 mRNA 稳定性、从细胞核输出和翻译至关重要。作为细胞中的一种必需酶，CPSF73 令人惊讶地显示出作为特定癌症和原生动物寄生虫的药物靶点的希望。在这篇综述中，我们介绍了目前对 CPSF73 在切割和多聚腺苷酸化、组蛋白前 mRNA 加工和转录终止方面的理解。我们讨论了 CPSF73 作为新型治疗靶点的潜力，并强调了对 CPSF73 调控的进一步研究，这对于了解其在癌症和其他疾病中的作用至关重要。