First published online April 23, 2007
Journal of Cell Science 120, 904e (2007)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Epithelial differentiation goes nuclear
The apical-basal polarity and distinct nuclear organisation that characterise differentiated epithelial cells are lost in cancer. But does the loss of epithelial tissue architecture control the changes in nuclear organisation? On p. 1596, Sophie Lelièvre and colleagues show that it does and that this control mechanism critically determines epithelial cell fate. In three-dimensional cultures, normal human mammary epithelial cells form polar structures and exit the cell cycle; a survival programme is also induced. Malignant cells, by contrast, form nonpolarised nodules. Induction of basal polarity, cell-cycle exit and the survival programme in malignant cells, report the authors, restores several differentiation-specific features of nuclear organisation, including the formation of NuMA (nuclear mitotic apparatus protein) foci. However, whereas differentiated nonmalignant cells apoptose when treated with anti-NuMA antibodies, these partly differentiated malignant cells re-enter the cell cycle, which indicates that tissue architecture controls cell fate. The authors suggest, therefore, that tissue polarity and nuclear organization combine to control epithelial cell behaviour and that the loss of polarity, which happens early during breast cancer development, influences nuclear organisation.
Related articles in JCS:
- The control of tissue architecture over nuclear organization is crucial for epithelial cell fate
- Gurushankar Chandramouly, Patricia C. Abad, David W. Knowles, and Sophie A. Lelièvre
JCS 2007 120: 1596-1606.
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