Cytokinesis, Pathogenesis and Cancer

Updated 17/5/02

The most obvious connection between cytokinesis and disease is cancer where the uncontrolled division and growth of cells produces pathology.  In this situation cytokinesis is merely the result of  the general loss of cellular regulation and control.  However in a few cases failures of cytokinesis lead to  genetic instability by incorrect division of the chromosomes.  In oral squamous carcinoma cells spindle poles are often malformed leading to further chromosomal instability (Saunders et al, 2000), and in other cells types muti-nuclearity results from an increase in aurora kinase expression which leads to common failures of cytokinesis (Tatsuka et al, 1998). Asbestos dust physically disrupts cytokinesis by the fibres becoming trapped within the cleavage furrow (Jensen & Watson, 1999), leading to chromosome loss aneuploidy and general genetic instability.

Meraldi, P., Honda, R. & Nigg, E. A. (2002) Aurora-A overexpression reveals tetraploidization as a major route to centrosome amplification in p53^{-/- cells., EMBO J. 21, 483-492.}

Saunders, W. S., Shuster, M., Huang, X., Gharaibeh, B., Enyenihi, A. H., Petersen, I. & Gollin, S. M. (2000) Chromosomal instability and cytoskeletal defects in oral cancer cells. PNAS. 97, 303-308.

Tatsuka, M., Katayama, H., Ota, T., Tanaka, T., Odashima, S., Suzuki, F., & Terada, Y. (1998) Multinuclearity and increased ploidy caused by overexpression of the aurora- and IpI1-like midbody-associated protein mitotic kinase in human cancer cells. Cancer Res. 58, 4811-4816.