C-terminal kinesin motor KIFC1 participates in facilitating proper cell division of human seminoma

Oncotarget. 2017 May 24;8(37):61373-61384. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.18139. eCollection 2017 Sep 22.

Abstract

C-terminus kinesin motor KIFC1 is known for centrosome clustering in cancer cells with supernumerary centrosomes. KIFC1 crosslinks and glides on microtubules (MT) to assist normal bipolar spindle formation to avoid multi-polar cell division, which might be fatal. Testis cancer is the most common human cancer among young men. However, the gene expression profiles of testis cancer is still not complete and the expression of the C-terminus kinesin motor KIFC1 in testis cancer has not yet been examined. We found that KIFC1 is enriched in seminoma tissues in both mRNA level and protein level, and is specifically enriched in the cells that divide actively. Cell experiments showed that KIFC1 may be essential in cell division, but not essential in metastasis. Based on subcellular immuno-florescent staining results, we also described the localization of KIFC1 during cell cycle. By expressing ΔC-FLAG peptide in the cells, we found that the tail domain of KIFC1 might be essential for the dynamic disassociation of KIFC1, and the motor domain of KIFC1 might be essential for the degradation of KIFC1. Our work provides a new perspective for seminoma research.

Keywords: KIFC1; cell division; kinesin-14; seminoma; testis cancer.