DNA trapped in the cleavage furrowIMAGE © SCIENCE/AAAS
Tumor formation may require fewer steps to get started than previously thought, according to a new study that shows how chromosome instability (CIN) and DNA damage—two tumorigenesis triggers typically considered independent phenomena—can arise from a single defect in how chromosomes segregate during cell division.
“This paper really provides a link between the mechanism behind CIN and the mechanism underlying chromosome damage,” said Dartmouth University biochemist Duane Compton, who was not involved in the research. Prior to this study, most researchers were not investigating how these two phenomena might be related, he added.
The results, published today (September 29) in Science, hint at new avenues for developing anti-cancer therapeutics that target chromosome missegregation as a central event in the development of both abnormal chromosome number and ...
