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Updated: May 10, 2025

Live Cell Imaging to Assess the Dynamics of Metaphase Timing and Cell Fate Following Mitotic Spindle Perturbations
Published on: September 20, 2019
Centrosomes and cancer: balancing tumor-promoting and inhibitory roles
Susana A Godinho1, Renata Basto2
1Centre for Cancer Cell and Molecular Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, UK.
Abstract:
The centrosome duplicates only once per cell cycle such that, in preparation for mitosis, cells contain two centrosomes, allowing the formation of a bipolar spindle and segregation of chromosomes to the two daughter cells. Defects in centrosome numbers have long been recognized in human tumors and are postulated to be a driver of malignancy through chromosome instability. However, current work has revealed a multitude of phenotypes associated with amplified centrosomes beyond mitotic defects that may play a role in disease onset and progression, including cancer. This review focuses on the complexity of outcomes connected to centrosome abnormalities and the challenges that result from aberrant loss and gain of centrosome numbers. We discuss the tumor-promoting and inhibitory roles of amplified centrosomes, and propose that their impact on both physiology and disease is intrinsically linked to cellular context.
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