Abstract
For nearly 60 years, diagnosis of cancer has been based on pathological tests that look for enlargement and distortion of nuclear shape. Because of their involvement in supporting nuclear architecture, it has been postulated that the basis for nuclear shape changes during cancer progression is altered expression of nuclear lamins and in particular lamins A and C. However, studies on lamin expression patterns in a range of different cancers have generated equivocal and apparently contradictory results. This might have been anticipated since cancers are diverse and complex diseases. Moreover, whilst altered epigenetic control over gene expression is a feature of many cancers, this level of control cannot be considered in isolation. Here I have reviewed those studies relating to altered expression of lamins in cancers and argue that consideration of changes in the expression of individual lamins cannot be considered in isolation but only in the context of an understanding of their functions in transformed cells.
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Abbreviations
- BCC:
-
Basal cell carcinoma
- BBD:
-
Benign breast disease
- EMT:
-
Epithelial to mesenchymal transition
- LDMDs:
-
Lamin B-deficient microdomains
- SCLC:
-
Small-cell lung carcinoma
- SCC:
-
Squamous cell carcinoma
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all members of my laboratory, past and present, who have contributed to our current understanding of the function of nuclear lamins. I would also like to thank BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, and the Association of International Cancer Research for their financial support.
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Hutchison, C.J. (2014). Do Lamins Influence Disease Progression in Cancer?. In: Schirmer, E., de las Heras, J. (eds) Cancer Biology and the Nuclear Envelope. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 773. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8032-8_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8032-8_27
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