Is the Rac GTPase-activating toxin CNF1 a smart hijacker of host cell fate?
The term mitotic catastrophe (MC) was coined to describe the mammalian cell death caused by aberrant mitosis. MC occurs with features that are fundamentally different from those typifying other forms of cell death, including apoptosis. We report here for the first time that the Rac-activating toxin CNF1 interferes with the occurrence of MC and leads to aneuploidy and multinucleation. This seems to be in line with the anti-apoptotic activity of the toxin and consistent with the hypothesis that points at CNF1 as a toxin bearing a carcinogenic potential.
Department of Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanita', Rome, Italy. malorni@iss.it
Walter
W
Malorni
Carla
C
Fiorentini
D000782:Aneuploidy; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002467:Cell Nucleus; D006224:Cricetinae; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008938:Mitosis; D020744:rac GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C060296:cytotoxic necrotizing factor type 1; D020744:rac GTP-Binding Proteins