title: Overexpression of active Aurora-C kinase results in cell transformation and tumour formation.
abstract: Aurora kinases belong to a conserved family of serine/threonine kinases key regulators of cell cycle progression. Aurora-A and Aurora-B are expressed in somatic cells and involved mainly in mitosis while Aurora-C is expressed during spermatogenesis and oogenesis and is involved in meiosis. Aurora-C is hardly detectable in normal somatic cells. However all three kinases are overexpressed in many cancer lines. Aurora-A possesses an oncogenic activity while Aurora-B does not. Here we investigated whether Aurora-C possesses such an oncogenic activity. We report that overexpression of Aurora-C induces abnormal cell division resulting in centrosome amplification and multinucleation in both transiently transfected cells and in stable cell lines. Only stable NIH3T3 cell clones overexpressing active Aurora-C formed foci of colonies when grown on soft agar, indicating that a gain of Aurora-C activity is sufficient to transform cells. Furthermore, we reported that NIH-3T3 stable cell lines overexpressing Aurora-C induced tumour formation when injected into nude mice, demonstrating the oncogenic activity of enzymatically active Aurora kinase C. Interestingly enough tumor aggressiveness was positively correlated with the quantity of active kinase, making Aurora-C a potential anti-cancer therapeutic target.
authors: CNRS, UMR 6061, Institut Génétique et Développement de Rennes, Rennes, France.
authors: Jabbar
authors: J
authors: Khan
authors: Frédéric
authors: F
authors: Ezan
authors: Jean-Yves
authors: JY
authors: Crémet
authors: Alain
authors: A
authors: Fautrel
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Gilot
authors: Marine
authors: M
authors: Lambert
authors: Christelle
authors: C
authors: Benaud
authors: Marie-Bérengère
authors: MB
authors: Troadec
authors: Claude
authors: C
authors: Prigent
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D064096:Aurora Kinase A; D064107:Aurora Kinase B; D064108:Aurora Kinase C; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D018385:Centrosome / Q000473:pathology; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008540:Meiosis; D051379:Mice; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C576921:AURKB protein, human; C576927:AURKC protein, human; C576918:Aurka protein, mouse; C576924:Aurkb protein, mouse; C576928:Aurkc protein, mouse; D064096:Aurora Kinase A; D064107:Aurora Kinase B; D064108:Aurora Kinase C; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases