The magic trick of hepatocytes: uncoupling genomic instability from cancer.

摘要

If you think there's a link between genomic instability, aneuploidy and cancer you're right. The vast majority of cells isolated from solid tumours have an aberrant chromosome number (aneuploidy) [1]. In addition, many cancer cells display genomic instability - a constantly high rate of genetic alterations - which helps them overcome growth-restrictive signals and acquire resistance against therapeutic agents [2-4]. But beyond such a correlation, do aneuploidy and genomic instability actually cause cancer? Many tumour biologists would say 'yes', and with good reason. Several transgenic mouse models have demonstrated that most (admittedly not all) defects in the chromosome segregation machinery that result in aneuploidy also increase the incidence of cancer [5].