From endocytosis to tumors through asymmetric cell division of stem cells.
Recent studies in vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms uncover the importance of endocytosis for biased signaling during asymmetric cell division. In stem cells, perturbing polarity and asymmetric division affect their selfrenewal causing exponential proliferation, thereby giving rise to cancer. An emerging pattern is that endocytosis controls asymmetric cell division, which underlies stem cell selfrenewal and defective selfrenewal is on the basis of tumorigenesis caused by cancer stem cells.
Department of Biochemistry, University of Geneva, Sciences II, Quai E. Ansermet 30, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
Franck
F
Coumailleau
Marcos
M
González-Gaitán
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D004705:Endocytosis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology*