title: Mitotic catastrophe in malignant epithelial tumors: the pathologist's viewpoint.
abstract: Mitotic catastrophe is a common phenomenon occurring in tumor cells with impaired p53 function exposed to various cytotoxic and genotoxic agents. The defective p53 checkpoint causes improper segregation of chromosomes, resulting in aberrant mitosis, multiple micronuclei, multinucleate giant cells, and eventual necrosis-like death and centrosome aberration. Although various descriptions explaining mitotic catastrophe exist, there is still no generally accepted definition of this phenomenon. However, the syndrome of mitotic catastrophe may be a unifying morphological concept of particular interest to cancer research, as it integrally links cell death to checkpoints of the cell cycle. Morphological findings compatible with mitotic catastrophe may be found in pleomorphic, giant cell carcinomas--neoplasms characterized by a poor prognosis. The inclusion of mitotic catastrophe as part of the microscopic evaluation of tumors will add further insight to the pathobiology of tumor progression and in novel therapeutic designs. Finally, the possibility of assimilating mitotic catastrophe into a prognostic score is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Pathology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy. rosariocaruso@tin.it
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caruso
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fedele
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lucianò
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Branca
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Parisi
authors.forename: Domenica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paparo
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parisi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016923:Cell Death; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D018385:Centrosome / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D008938:Mitosis; D008940:Mitotic Index; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; C495901:TP53 protein, human; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53