Asymmetric division: An antitumor player?

Lihua Wang; Pengcheng Bu; Xiling Shen

doi:10.1080/23723556.2016.1164279

Asymmetric division: An antitumor player?

Mol Cell Oncol. 2016 May 19;3(4):e1164279. doi: 10.1080/23723556.2016.1164279. eCollection 2016 Jul.

Authors

Lihua Wang¹, Pengcheng Bu², Xiling Shen³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY, USA.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
³ Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.

Abstract

miR-34a-mediated asymmetric cell division reins in excessive stem cell expansion during tissue regeneration in the intestine and colon. Loss of miR-34a switches asymmetric division to symmetric division and enhances stem cell proliferation. Asymmetric division also occurs in the early stages of colon cancer stem cells. Mechanistically, miR-34a, Numb, and Notch form a feed-forward loop that specifies cell fate when stem cells divide.