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Mittal K, Kaur J, Jaczko M, Wei G, Toss MS, Rakha EA, Janssen EAM, Søiland H, Kucuk O, Reid MD, Gupta MV, Aneja R. Centrosome amplification: a quantifiable cancer cell trait with prognostic value in solid malignancies. Cancer Metastasis Rev 2021; 40:319-339. [PMID: 33106971 PMCID: PMC7897259 DOI: 10.1007/s10555-020-09937-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2020] [Accepted: 10/12/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Numerical and/or structural centrosome amplification (CA) is a hallmark of cancers that is often associated with the aberrant tumor karyotypes and poor clinical outcomes. Mechanistically, CA compromises mitotic fidelity and leads to chromosome instability (CIN), which underlies tumor initiation and progression. Recent technological advances in microscopy and image analysis platforms have enabled better-than-ever detection and quantification of centrosomal aberrancies in cancer. Numerous studies have thenceforth correlated the presence and the degree of CA with indicators of poor prognosis such as higher tumor grade and ability to recur and metastasize. We have pioneered a novel semi-automated pipeline that integrates immunofluorescence confocal microscopy with digital image analysis to yield a quantitative centrosome amplification score (CAS), which is a summation of the severity and frequency of structural and numerical centrosome aberrations in tumor samples. Recent studies in breast cancer show that CA increases across the disease progression continuum, while normal breast tissue exhibited the lowest CA, followed by cancer-adjacent apparently normal, ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive tumors, which showed the highest CA. This finding strengthens the notion that CA could be evolutionarily favored and can promote tumor progression and metastasis. In this review, we discuss the prevalence, extent, and severity of CA in various solid cancer types, the utility of quantifying amplified centrosomes as an independent prognostic marker. We also highlight the clinical feasibility of a CA-based risk score for predicting recurrence, metastasis, and overall prognosis in patients with solid cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karuna Mittal
- Department of Biology, Georgia State University, 100 Piedmont Ave, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA
| | - Jaspreet Kaur
- Department of Biology, Georgia State University, 100 Piedmont Ave, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA
| | - Meghan Jaczko
- Department of Biology, Georgia State University, 100 Piedmont Ave, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA
| | - Guanhao Wei
- Department of Biology, Georgia State University, 100 Piedmont Ave, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA
| | - Michael S Toss
- Department of Pathology, University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, UK
| | - Emad A Rakha
- Department of Pathology, University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, UK
| | | | - Håvard Søiland
- Department of Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway
| | - Omer Kucuk
- Winship Cancer Institute, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | | | | | - Ritu Aneja
- Department of Biology, Georgia State University, 100 Piedmont Ave, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.
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Ruppenthal S, Kleiner H, Nolte F, Fabarius A, Hofmann WK, Nowak D, Seifarth W. Increased separase activity and occurrence of centrosome aberrations concur with transformation of MDS. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0191734. [PMID: 29370237 PMCID: PMC5784974 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2017] [Accepted: 01/10/2018] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
ESPL1/separase, a cysteine endopeptidase, is a key player in centrosome duplication and mitotic sister chromatid separation. Aberrant expression and/or altered separase proteolytic activity are associated with centrosome amplification, aneuploidy, tumorigenesis and disease progression. Since centrosome alterations are a common and early detectable feature in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and cytogenetic aberrations play an important role in disease risk stratification, we examined separase activity on single cell level in 67 bone marrow samples obtained from patients with MDS, secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML), de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and healthy controls by a flow cytometric separase activity assay. The separase activity distribution (SAD) value, a calculated measure for the occurrence of cells with prominent separase activity within the analyzed sample, was tested for correlation with the centrosome, karyotype and gene mutation status. We found higher SAD values in bone marrow cells of sAML patients than in corresponding cells of MDS patients. This concurred with an increased incidence of aberrant centrosome phenotypes in sAML vs. MDS samples. No correlation was found between SAD values and the karyotype/gene mutation status. During follow-up of four MDS patients we observed increasing SAD values after transformation to sAML, in two patients SAD values decreased during azacitidine therapy. Cell culture experiments employing MDS-L cells as an in vitro model of MDS revealed that treatment with rigosertib, a PLK1 inhibitor and therapeutic drug known to induce G2/M arrest, results in decreased SAD values. In conclusion, the appearance of cells with unusual high separase activity levels, as indicated by increased SAD values, concurs with the transformation of MDS to sAML and may reflect separase dysregulation potentially contributing to clonal evolution during MDS progression. Separase activity measurement may therefore be useful as a novel additional molecular marker for disease monitoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Ruppenthal
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Helga Kleiner
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Florian Nolte
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Alice Fabarius
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Wolf-Karsten Hofmann
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Daniel Nowak
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Seifarth
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
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Morris EJ, Kawamura E, Gillespie JA, Balgi A, Kannan N, Muller WJ, Roberge M, Dedhar S. Stat3 regulates centrosome clustering in cancer cells via Stathmin/PLK1. Nat Commun 2017; 8:15289. [PMID: 28474672 PMCID: PMC5424153 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2016] [Accepted: 03/14/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer cells frequently have amplified centrosomes that must be clustered together to form a bipolar mitotic spindle, and targeting centrosome clustering is considered a promising therapeutic strategy. A high-content chemical screen for inhibitors of centrosome clustering identified Stattic, a Stat3 inhibitor. Stat3 depletion and inhibition in cancer cell lines and in tumours in vivo caused significant inhibition of centrosome clustering and viability. Here we describe a transcription-independent mechanism for Stat3-mediated centrosome clustering that involves Stathmin, a Stat3 interactor involved in microtubule depolymerization, and the mitotic kinase PLK1. Furthermore, PLK4-driven centrosome amplified breast tumour cells are highly sensitive to Stat3 inhibitors. We have identified an unexpected role of Stat3 in the regulation of centrosome clustering, and this role of Stat3 may be critical in identifying tumours that are sensitive to Stat3 inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward J. Morris
- Department of Integrative Oncology, BC Cancer Research Centre, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5Z 1L3
| | - Eiko Kawamura
- Department of Integrative Oncology, BC Cancer Research Centre, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5Z 1L3
| | - Jordan A. Gillespie
- Department of Integrative Oncology, BC Cancer Research Centre, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5Z 1L3
| | - Aruna Balgi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6E 4A2
| | - Nagarajan Kannan
- Terry Fox Laboratory, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5Z 1L3
| | - William J. Muller
- Department of Biochemistry, Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1A3
| | - Michel Roberge
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6E 4A2
| | - Shoukat Dedhar
- Department of Integrative Oncology, BC Cancer Research Centre, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5Z 1L3
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6E 4A2
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Abstract
The centrosome, an organelle discovered >100 years ago, is the main microtubule-organizing center in mammalian organisms. The centrosome is composed of a pair of centrioles surrounded by the pericentriolar material (PMC) and plays a major role in the regulation of cell cycle transitions (G1-S, G2-M, and metaphase-anaphase), ensuring the normality of cell division. Hundreds of proteins found in the centrosome exert a variety of roles, including microtubule dynamics, nucleation, and kinetochore–microtubule attachments that allow correct chromosome alignment and segregation. Errors in these processes lead to structural (shape, size, number, position, and composition), functional (abnormal microtubule nucleation and disorganized spindles), and numerical (centrosome amplification [CA]) centrosome aberrations causing aneuploidy and genomic instability. Compelling data demonstrate that centrosomes are implicated in cancer, because there are important oncogenic and tumor suppressor proteins that are localized in this organelle and drive centrosome aberrations. Centrosome defects have been found in pre-neoplasias and tumors from breast, ovaries, prostate, head and neck, lung, liver, and bladder among many others. Several drugs/compounds against centrosomal proteins have shown promising results. Other drugs have higher toxicity with modest or no benefits, and there are more recently developed agents being tested in clinical trials. All of this emerging evidence suggests that targeting centrosome aberrations may be a future avenue for therapeutic intervention in cancer research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yainyrette Rivera-Rivera
- Department of Pharmacology, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, Puerto Rico
| | - Harold I Saavedra
- Department of Pharmacology, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, Puerto Rico
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Pihan GA. Centrosome dysfunction contributes to chromosome instability, chromoanagenesis, and genome reprograming in cancer. Front Oncol 2013; 3:277. [PMID: 24282781 PMCID: PMC3824400 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2013.00277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2013] [Accepted: 10/28/2013] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The unique ability of centrosomes to nucleate and organize microtubules makes them unrivaled conductors of important interphase processes, such as intracellular payload traffic, cell polarity, cell locomotion, and organization of the immunologic synapse. But it is in mitosis that centrosomes loom large, for they orchestrate, with clockmaker's precision, the assembly and functioning of the mitotic spindle, ensuring the equal partitioning of the replicated genome into daughter cells. Centrosome dysfunction is inextricably linked to aneuploidy and chromosome instability, both hallmarks of cancer cells. Several aspects of centrosome function in normal and cancer cells have been molecularly characterized during the last two decades, greatly enhancing our mechanistic understanding of this tiny organelle. Whether centrosome defects alone can cause cancer, remains unanswered. Until recently, the aggregate of the evidence had suggested that centrosome dysfunction, by deregulating the fidelity of chromosome segregation, promotes and accelerates the characteristic Darwinian evolution of the cancer genome enabled by increased mutational load and/or decreased DNA repair. Very recent experimental work has shown that missegregated chromosomes resulting from centrosome dysfunction may experience extensive DNA damage, suggesting additional dimensions to the role of centrosomes in cancer. Centrosome dysfunction is particularly prevalent in tumors in which the genome has undergone extensive structural rearrangements and chromosome domain reshuffling. Ongoing gene reshuffling reprograms the genome for continuous growth, survival, and evasion of the immune system. Manipulation of molecular networks controlling centrosome function may soon become a viable target for specific therapeutic intervention in cancer, particularly since normal cells, which lack centrosome alterations, may be spared the toxicity of such therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- German A Pihan
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA , USA
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