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Centrosomes and cancer: how cancer cells divide with too many centrosomes

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Abstract

Precise control of centrosome number is crucial for bipolar spindle assembly and accurate transmission of genetic material to daughter cells. Failure to properly control centrosome number results in supernumerary centrosomes, which are frequently found in cancer cells. This presents a paradox: during mitosis, cells with more than two centrosomes are prone to multipolar mitoses and cell death, however, cancer cells possessing extra centrosomes usually divide successfully. One mechanism frequently utilized by cancer cells to escape death caused by multipolar mitoses is the clustering of supernumerary centrosomes into bipolar arrays. An understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which cancer cells can suppress multipolar mitoses is beginning to emerge. Here, we review what’s currently known about centrosome clustering mechanisms and discuss potential strategies to target these mechanisms for the selective killing of cancer cells.

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Acknowledgements

We apologize to the authors whose work was not discussed or cited owing to space constraints. We are grateful to N. Ganem, S. Buttery, K. Crasta, N. Chandhok and M. Thery for critical reading of the manuscript. Our work is supported by a Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia grant to S. Godinho, by a Susan Komen postdoctoral fellowship to M. Kwon, and by NIH grant GM083299 to D. Pellman. D.P. is an Investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Susana A. Godinho, Mijung Kwon & David Pellman

  2. Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    David Pellman

  3. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    David Pellman

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  1. Susana A. Godinho
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  2. Mijung Kwon
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  3. David Pellman
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Correspondence to David Pellman.

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Godinho and Kwon contributed equally to the work.

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Godinho, S.A., Kwon, M. & Pellman, D. Centrosomes and cancer: how cancer cells divide with too many centrosomes. Cancer Metastasis Rev 28, 85–98 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10555-008-9163-6

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