title: Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) in non-melanoma skin cancers.
abstract: Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) is becoming an increasingly attractive target for cancer management. Plk1 has been shown to be overexpressed in a variety of cancers; however its role in skin cancers is not well-understood. We recently demonstrated that Plk1 is overexpressed in human melanoma and gene-knockdown as well as chemical-inhibition of Plk1 resulted in a significant decrease in melanoma cell viability and growth without affecting the growth of the normal human epidermal melanocytes (NHEMs). Further, the observed anti-proliferative response of Plk1 was found to be accompanied with a significant G(2)/M cell cycle arrest, mitotic catastrophe and induction of apoptosis in melanoma cells. In this study, we determined the expression profile of Plk1 in non-melanoma skin cancers viz. basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Our data demonstrated that like melanoma, Plk1 is significantly overexpressed in BCC and SCC samples. Further, we also found that compared to normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs), Plk1 was overexpressed at both the protein and mRNA levels in squamous A253 and A431 cells. In addition, a similar protein expression pattern was found for the downstream targets of Plk1, viz. Cdk1, Cyclin B1 and Cdc25C. We believe that the expression pattern of Plk1 in the various skin cancers, the observed insusceptibility of normal cells to Plk1 inhibition and the easy accessibility for topical applications lends the skin as an attractive tissue for Plk1 based cancer chemoprevention and chemotherapeutic applications.
authors: Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
authors: Travis L
authors: TL
authors: Schmit
authors: Weixiong
authors: W
authors: Zhong
authors: Minakshi
authors: M
authors: Nihal
authors: Nihal
authors: N
authors: Ahmad
mesh_terms: D016203:CDC2 Protein Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D056744:Cyclin B1 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D020687:cdc25 Phosphatases / Q000378:metabolism; D000097869:Polo-Like Kinase 1
chemical_list: D016203:CDC2 Protein Kinase; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D056744:Cyclin B1; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D020687:cdc25 Phosphatases; D000097869:Polo-Like Kinase 1; C517009:CDC25C protein, human