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Aurora-B kinase inhibitors for cancer chemotherapy

Sai-Ching Jim Yeung1, Christopher Gully, Mong-Hong Lee

  • 1UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Unit 079, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.

Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry
|December 17, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Aurora-B kinase inhibitors are promising anticancer drugs that target cell division. Research on these inhibitors enhances understanding of Aurora kinases in mitosis and guides future chemotherapy combinations.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Oncology

Background:

  • Cancer cells exhibit frequent mitosis with aberrant expression of mitotic regulators.
  • Aurora kinases, including Aurora-B, are crucial serine/threonine kinases regulating mitosis.
  • Dysregulation of Aurora kinases is implicated in cancer development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the functions of Aurora-B kinases in mitosis.
  • To summarize the current literature on Aurora-B kinase inhibitors.
  • To discuss the mechanism of action and structure-activity relationship of selective Aurora-B inhibitors.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on Aurora-B kinase functions and inhibitors.
  • Analysis of existing data on Aurora kinase inhibitors in cancer therapy.
  • Discussion of structure-activity relationships for selective Aurora-B inhibitors.

Main Results:

  • Aurora-B kinases play vital roles in chromosome alignment, segregation, and cytokinesis.
  • Aurora kinase inhibitors are being developed as anticancer drugs.
  • Inhibitor development has advanced the understanding of Aurora kinase functions in mitosis.

Conclusions:

  • Aurora-B kinase inhibitors show promising therapeutic potential in cancer treatment.
  • Mechanism-guided design of chemotherapy combinations including these drugs is a future direction.
  • These cell-cycle phase-specific drugs offer a targeted approach to cancer therapy.

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