Advances in studies on the relationship between Aurora kinases and gastrointestinal tumors / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Aurora kinases constitute a highly evolutionarily conserved family of serine/threonine kinases, which includes Aurora A, Aurora B, and Aurora C. These kinases are dynamically distributed throughout the cell cycle, and ensure the normal completion of the cell cycle by regulating centrosome maturation and separation, bipolar spindle assembly and stabilization, accurate separation of chromosomes, and efficient division of cytoplasm during mitosis. In recent years, it has been shown that Aurora kinases are overexpressed in a variety of solid tumors in the human body. The overexpression of Aurora kinases leads to abnormal mitosis, causes genetic instability, and is closely related to the occurrence, proliferation, and poor prognosis of tumors, which indicates that these kinases could be novel anti- tumor targets. Currently, Aurora kinase inhibitors are considered as novel candidates for molecular targeted therapies. Some of these inhibitors with strong anti-tumor activity have even entered clinical trials. In this article, we have reviewed the relationship between the biological characteristics of Aurora kinases, Aurora kinase inhibitors, and the occurrence and development of gastrointestinal tumors.