Connecting chromosomes, crisis, and cancer.
Cancer is a disease of impaired genome stability. The molecular forces that maintain genome integrity and sense altered chromosome structure are invariably subverted in cancer cells. Here, we explore the contrasting contributions of telomeres in the initiation and suppression of cancer and review the evidence supporting a role for telomere dysfunction as a mechanism driving the radical chromosomal aberrations that typify cancer genomes. Recent work suggests that passage of cells through crisis in the setting of deactivated DNA damage checkpoints provides a mutational mechanism that can generate the diverse genetic alterations required for cancer initiation. A greater understanding of telomere-induced crisis and the cell's crisis management mechanisms should guide the rational development of new therapeutics for cancer and other disorders.
Maser
Richard S
RS
Department of Adult Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, 44 Binney Street, M413, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
DePinho
Ronald A
RA
D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002455:Cell Division; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004249:DNA Damage; D004260:DNA Repair; D018450:Disease Progression; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D019098:Telomerase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D016615:Telomere / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure
D019098:Telomerase