The USP31-RUNX1 pathway exerts regulatory effects on MCM2. USP31 stabilizes RUNX1 through deubiquitination, thereby enhancing its transcriptional activity. RUNX1 directly binds to the regulatory region of MCM2, promoting its expression. Overexpression of MCM2 accelerates DNA replication, cell cycle progression, and proliferation in colon cancer cells, and is associated with poor prognosis (Tian et al., 2024). The gene discussed is RUNX1; the disease is malignant colon neoplasm.