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Review
. 2009 Aug 11;19(15):R642-5.
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.06.039.

Cancer: CINful centrosomes

Samuel F Bakhoum  1 , Duane A Compton
Affiliations
Review

Cancer: CINful centrosomes

Samuel F Bakhoum et al. Curr Biol. .

Abstract

The regulation of centrosome number is lost in many tumors and the presence of extra centrosomes correlates with chromosomal instability. Recent work now reveals how extra centrosomes cause chromosome mis-segregation in tumor cells.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Extra centrosomes increase merotelic kinetochore–microtubule attachments
(A) Normal diploid cells build bipolar spindles through the direction of two centrosomes (green). Spontaneously arising erroneous (merotelic) attachments of microtubules (black lines) to chromosomes (blue) at kinetochores (red) are corrected (red lightning blot) prior to anaphase onset to prevent chromosome mis-segregation. (B) Extra centrosomes in cancer cells induce multipolar spindles prior to bipolarization through centrosome clustering (arrows). These multipolar spindles increase the incidence of merotelic kinetochore–microtubule attachments that persist into anaphase and cause chromosome lagging and mis-segregation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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