Recent technological advancements have shown tremendous mechanistic accomplishments in our understanding of the mechanism of
messenger RNA translation in eukaryotic cells. Eukaryotic
messenger RNA translation is very complex process that includes four phases (initiation, elongation, termination, and ribosome recycling) and diverse mechanisms involving
protein and non-
protein molecules. Translation regulation is principally achieved during initiation step of translation, which is organized by multiple eukaryotic translation
initiation factors. Eukaryotic translation
initiation factor proteins help in stabilizing the formation of the functional ribosome around the
start codon and provide regulatory mechanisms in translation initiation. Dysregulated
messenger RNA translation is a common feature of
tumorigenesis. Various oncogenic and
tumor suppressive genes affect/are affected by the translation machinery, making the components of the translation apparatus promising therapeutic targets for the novel anticancer drug. This review provides details on the role of eukaryotic translation
initiation factors in
messenger RNA translation initiation, their contribution to onset and progression of
tumor, and how dysregulated eukaryotic translation
initiation factors can be used as a target to treat
carcinogenesis.