title: Mitotic spindle (DIS)orientation and DISease: cause or consequence?
abstract: Correct alignment of the mitotic spindle during cell division is crucial for cell fate determination, tissue organization, and development. Mutations causing brain diseases and cancer in humans and mice have been associated with spindle orientation defects. These defects are thought to lead to an imbalance between symmetric and asymmetric divisions, causing reduced or excessive cell proliferation. However, most of these disease-linked genes encode proteins that carry out multiple cellular functions. Here, we discuss whether spindle orientation defects are the direct cause for these diseases, or just a correlative side effect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Metabolism, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Noatynska
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gotta
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Meraldi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016764:Cell Polarity; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018385:Centrosome / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008938:Mitosis; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008941:Spindle Apparatus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology