Based on the core roles of DDX17 in RNA processing (such as pri-miRNA cleavage and mRNA splicing), protein interaction, and pathway regulation, its drug development can be targeted to design three types of strategies—small molecule inhibitors that specifically target the DEAD-box domain (to block the oncogenic pathways mediated by miRNAs in cancer) and peptide drugs that interfere with protein interactions (to stabilize the DDX17-BCL6 complex in heart failure or inhibit the DDX17-SMAD binding in cancer EMT). Here, DDX17 is linked to cancer.