A double on the Rocs with a twist: Rocaglamide A targets multiple DEAD-box helicases to inhibit translation initiation

Abstract

In this issue of Cell Chemical Biology, Chen etal. (2020) expand the target repertoire of rocaglamide A (RocA) to now include eIF4A2 and DDX3X, converting DEAD-box helicases into dominant-negative translation repressors. These results also highlight how cancer cell sensitivity to RocA is dependent on eIF4A and DDX3X levels.