title: The centrosome index is a powerful prognostic marker in myeloma and identifies a cohort of patients that might benefit from aurora kinase inhibition.
abstract: Centrosome amplification is common in myeloma and may be involved in disease pathogenesis. We have previously derived a gene expression-based centrosome index (CI) that correlated with centrosome amplification and was an independent prognostic factor in a small cohort of heterogeneously treated patients. In this study, we validated the prognostic significance of the CI in 2 large cohorts of patients entered into clinical trials and showed that a high CI is a powerful independent prognostic factor in both newly diagnosed and relapsed patients, whether treated by intensive therapy (total therapy II) or novel agents (bortezomib). Tumors with high CI overexpressed genes coding for proteins involved in cell cycle, proliferation, DNA damage, and G(2)-M checkpoints, and associated with the centrosome and kinetochore/ microtubules. In particular, aurora kinases are significantly overexpressed in patients with high CI, with concordant increase in protein expression. Human myeloma cell lines with higher CI are more responsive to treatment with a novel aurora kinase inhibitor. Aurora kinase may represent novel therapeutic targets in these patients with very poor prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology-Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, USA. mdccwj@nus.edu.sg
authors.forename: Wee J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Chng
authors.forename: Esteban
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Braggio
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mulligan
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bryant
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Remstein
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valdez
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dogan
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fonseca
mesh_terms: D064127:Aurora Kinases; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018385:Centrosome / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects; D042822:Genomic Instability / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases