Biomedical subjects

Gordon K Chan

Publications and source records attributed to Gordon K Chan.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Kinetochore structure and function.

The vertebrate kinetochore is a complex structure that specifies the attachments between the chromosomes and microtubules of the spindle and is thus essential for accurate chromosome segregation. Kinetochores are assembled on centromeric chromatin through complex pathways that are coordinated with the cell cycle. In the light of recent discoveries on how proteins assemble onto kinetochores and interact with each other, we review these findings in this article (which is part of the Chromosome Segregation and Aneuploidy series), and discuss their implications for the current mitotic checkpoint models - the template model and the two-step model. The template model proposes that Mad1-Mad2 at kinetochores acts as a template to change the conformation of another binding molecule of Mad2. This templated change in conformation is postulated as a mechanism for the amplification of the 'anaphase wait' signal. The two-step model proposes that the mitotic checkpoint complex (MCC) is the kinetochore-independent anaphase inhibitor, and the role of the unaligned kinetochore is to sensitize the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) to MCC-mediated inhibition.

Anaphase-Promoting Complex-Cyclosome↗

PubMed2004

Mitotic aberration coupled with centrosome amplification is induced by hepatitis B virus X oncoprotein via the Ras-mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase-mitogen-activated protein pathway.

Multinucleated cells have been noted in pathophysiological states of the liver including infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV), the status of which is also closely associated with genomic instability in liver cancer. Here, we showed that hepatitis B virus X oncoprotein (HBx) expression in Chang cells results in a multinuclear phenotype and an abnormal number of centrosomes (n >or=3). Regulation of centrosome duplication in HBx-expressing ChangX-34 cells was defective and uncoupled from the cell cycle. HBx induced amplification of centrosomes, multipolar spindle formation, and chromosomal missegregation during mitosis and subsequently increased the generation of multinucleated cells and micronuclei formation. Treatment with PD98059, a mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK) 1/2 inhibitor, significantly reduced the number of cells with hyperamplified centrosomes and decreased the multinucleated cells and micronuclei formation. Consistently, the phospho-ERK level during cell progression was substantially higher in ChangX-34 cells than that of Chang cells. In contrast, neither wortmannin, an inhibitor of phosphoinositide-3 kinase, nor SB203589, an inhibitor of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), showed any effects. Introduction of Ras dominant-negative (D/N) and MEK2 D/N genes into ChangX-34 cells significantly alleviated centrosome amplification, whereas introduction of the PKC D/N and PKB D/N genes did not. Thus, our results demonstrate that the HBx induced centrosome hyperamplification and mitotic aberration by activation of the Ras-MEK-MAPK. Intervention of this signaling pathway could suppress the centrosome amplification as well as mitotic aberration. These findings may provide a possible mechanism by which HBx promotes phenotypic progression by predisposing chromosomal alteration in HBV-infected liver.

Cell Line↗

PubMed2003

The mitotic checkpoint: a signaling pathway that allows a single unattached kinetochore to inhibit mitotic exit.

The mitotic checkpoint is a failsafe mechanism for the cell to ensure accurate chromosome segregation during mitosis. Mutations in genes encoding essential checkpoint proteins lead to chromosome instability and promote carcinogenesis. The BUB and MAD genes are essential components of the mitotic checkpoint pathway. BUB and MAD inhibit the ubiquitin ligase activity of the Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (APC/C) during mitosis to ensure cells with unaligned chromosomes do not prematurely enter anaphase. Two models explain how the APC/C is inhibited by the checkpoint. The Sequestration Model postulates that Mad2 and BubR1 bind and sequester Cdc20, an APC/C activator, away from APC/C so substrates whose destruction drives mitotic exit are no longer ubiquitinated. In this model, the unattached kinetochore is postulated to catalytically convert Mad2 to a form that binds Cdc20. In the Direct Inhibition Model, the Mitotic Checkpoint Complex (MCC) consisting of BubR1, Bub3, Mad2 and Cdc20 binds and inhibits the APC/C independently of the kinetochore. However, the "wait anaphase" signal generated by unattached kinetochores sensitizes the APC/C to prolonged inhibition by the MCC. A single unattached kinetochore is proposed to amplify the "wait anaphase" signal through a kinase cascade involving checkpoint kinases such as hBubR1, hBub1 and Mps1.

Anaphase↗