UCHL1 is involved in the degradation of unwanted, misfolded, or damaged proteins and is overexpressed in >50% of lung cancers, its overexpression in chronic smokers may represent an early event in the transformation from normal epithelium to malignancy.

This study shows for the first time that UCH-L1 plays a key role in the regulation of cell invasion in lung cancer, melanoma and in cancer metastasis, and that UCH-L1 modulates cell morphology by regulating the upstream Akt and influencing cell migration.

Transgenic expression of Uchl1 drives the development of spontaneous lung tumors and B-cell cancers in mice

High UCHL1 is associated with non-small cell lung carcinoma.

UCHL1 was found to be expressed in high-grade neuroendocrine lung cancer (HGNEC), particularly in cell lines and patient samples of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). In addition, higher levels of UCHL1 mRNA in extracellular vesicles (EV) were found in the samples of patients with early-stage HGNEC than those with early-stage NSCLC and healthy donors' EV. Taken together, UCHL1 may be a potential prognostic marker for HGNEC.