Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
18
pubmed:dateCreated
2009-9-16
pubmed:abstractText
Aurora kinase A (Aurora-A) belongs to a highly conserved family of mitotis-regulating serine/threonine kinases implicated in epithelial cancers. Initially we examined Aurora-A expression levels at different stages of human skin cancer. Nuclear Aurora-A was detected in benign lesions and became more diffused but broadly expressed in well and poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), indicating that Aurora-A deregulation may contribute to SCC development. To mimic the overexpression of Aurora-A observed in human skin cancers, we established a gene-switch mouse model in which the human variant of Aurora-A (Phe31Ile) was expressed in the epidermis upon topical application of the inducer RU486 (Aurora-AGS). Overexpression of Aurora-A alone or in combination with the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA), did not result in SCC formation in Aurora-AGS mice. Moreover, Aurora-A overexpression in naive keratinocytes resulted in spindle defects in vitro and marked cell death in vivo, suggesting that the failure of Aurora-A to initiate tumorigenesis was due to induction of catastrophic cell death. However, Aurora-A overexpression combined with exposure to TPA and the mutagen 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene accelerated SCC development with greater metastatic activity than control mice, indicating that Aurora-A cannot initiate skin carcinogenesis but rather promotes the malignant conversion of skin papillomas. Further characterization of SCCs revealed centrosome amplification and genomic alterations by array CGH analysis, indicating that Aurora-A overexpression induces a high level of genomic instability that favors the development of aggressive and metastatic tumors. Our findings strongly implicate Aurora-A overexpression in the malignant progression of skin tumors and suggest that Aurora-A may be an important therapeutic target.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Sep
pubmed:issn
1538-7445
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:day
15
pubmed:volume
69
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
7207-15
pubmed:dateRevised
2011-7-11
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2009
pubmed:articleTitle
A genetic variant of Aurora kinase A promotes genomic instability leading to highly malignant skin tumors.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Dermatology, University of Colorado Denver at Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural