Event Description

Centrosomes are small non-membranous organelles that function as the major microtubule organizing center in animal cells. But, how are centrosomes related to cancer? Centrosomes play an important role in organizing the mitotic spindle and cilia. During cell cycle centrosomes should duplicate just once to produce two centrosomes that will help to form the bipolar mitotic spindle. Cycling cells strictly regulate centrosome number to maintain the genomic integrity during the division process and abnormalities in the number of centrosomes can lead to tumorgenesis. The relation between centrosomes and cancer has been proposed for over a hundred years and it has remained controversial until the last years. In this journal club we will review and discuss the most important literature in the field, from the understanding of their biology (structure, organization and duplication cycle) to the latest publications proposing how centrosome aberrations contribute to carcinogenesis.