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Research Paper
Small Interfering RNA-Induced CHFR Silencing Sensitizes Oral Squamous Cell Cancer Cells to Microtubule Inhibitors
Kazuhiro Ogi, Minoru Toyota, Hiroaki Mita, Ayumi Satoh, Lisa Kashima, Yasushi Sasaki, Hiromu Suzuki, Kimishige Akino, Noriko Nishikawa, Makoto Noguchi, Yasuhisa Shinomura, Kohzoh Imai, Hiroyoshi Hiratsuka and Takashi Tokino
volume 4 | issue 7
july 2005Pages: 773-780
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Alterations in the function of cell cycle checkpoints are frequently detected in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs), and are often associated with the sensitivity of the cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. Recently, a mitotic checkpoint gene, Chfr, was shown to be inactivated by promoter methylation and point mutations in various human tumors. Here we show that the absence of its product, CHFR, is associated with mitotic checkpoint dysfunction, and that cancer cells lacking CHFR are sensitive to microtubule inhibitors. Checkpoint impairment appears to be caused by a prophase defect in this case, as OSCC cells lacking CHFR showed phosphorylation of histone H3 on Ser10 and translocation of cyclin B1 to the nucleus. When CHFR-deficient OSCC cells were treated with a microtubule inhibitor (docetaxel or paclitaxel), significant numbers of apoptotic cells were observed. Moreover, disruption of CHFR using small interfering RNA (siRNA) impaired the mitotic checkpoint, thereby reducing the ability of OSCC cells to arrest at G2/M phase and making them more sensitive to microtubule inhibitors. Our results suggest that CHFR could be a useful molecular target for chemotherapy.
We now provide open access to journal articles published online for one year or more. This article may be downloaded at the following link:
Download PDFIf the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.