Sustaining the spindle assembly checkpoint to improve cancer therapy

Roberta Visconti; Rosa Della Monica; Domenico Grieco

doi:10.1080/23723556.2015.1046583

Sustaining the spindle assembly checkpoint to improve cancer therapy

Mol Cell Oncol. 2015 Jun 26;3(1):e1046583. doi: 10.1080/23723556.2015.1046583. eCollection 2016 Jan.

Authors

Roberta Visconti¹, Rosa Della Monica², Domenico Grieco²

Affiliations

¹ CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, Naples, Italy; IEOS, CNR, Naples, Italy.
² CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, Naples, Italy; DMMBM, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.

Abstract

To prevent chromosome segregation errors, the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) delays mitosis exit until proper spindle assembly. We found that the FCP1 phosphatase and its downstream target WEE1 kinase oppose the SAC, promoting mitosis exit despite malformed spindles. We further showed that targeting this pathway might be useful for cancer therapy.

Keywords: Apoptosis; FCP1; SAC; WEE1 inhibitor; spindle assembly checkpoint; taxane; vinca alkaloid.