Fig. 2  Roles of alternative splicing in cancer. Dysfunctional proteins are generated by alternative splicing in cancer-related genes (oncogenic and tumor suppressor genes), increasing genomic instability. These aberrant proteins help cancerous cells to promote their growth, proliferation, and metastasis continuously (tumorigenesis). Variants of cancer-related genes expressed specifically or differently with their crucial roles for tumorigenesis could be potential biomarkers to distinguish between normal and cancer cells.