All along the watchtower: is the cilium a tumor suppressor organelle?
Biochim Biophys Acta
; 1786(2): 114-25, 2008 Dec.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18343234
ABSTRACT
Cilia or flagella have been around since almost the beginning of life, and have now developed specialized cell-type specific functions from locomotion to acting as environmental sensors participating in cell signalling. Genetic defects affecting cilia result in a myriad of pathological instances, including infertility, obesity, blindness, deafness, skeletal malformations, and lung problems. However, the consistency in which the common kidney cyst is coupled with cilia dysfunction has raised interest in the possibility that ciliary dysfunction might contribute to other neoplasms as well. A suite of recent papers convincingly linking cilia to hedgehog signalling, platelet-derived growth factor signalling, Wnt signalling and the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein has rapidly expanded the knowledge base connecting cilia to cancer. We propose that these data support the notion of the cilium as a cellular Watchtower, whose absence can be an initiating event in neoplastic growth. Furthermore, we predict that we are just now seeing the tip of the iceberg, and that the list of cancers associated with altered ciliary signalling will grow exponentially in the next few years.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Cílios
/
Neoplasias
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2008
Tipo de documento:
Article