Aurora B expression in post-puberal testicular germ cell tumours.

Full Abstract

Aurora/Ipl1-related kinases are a conserved family of proteins that are essential for the regulation of chromosome segregation and cytokinesis during mitosis. Aberrant expression and activity of these kinases occur in a wide range of human tumours and have been implicated in mechanisms leading to mitotic spindle aberrations, aneuploidy, and genomic instability. Previous studies of our group have shown that Aurora B expression is restricted to specific germinal cells. In this study, we have evaluated by immunohistochemical analysis Aurora B expression in post-puberal testicular germ cell tumours (22 seminomas, 2 teratomas, 15 embryonal carcinomas, 5 mixed germinal tumours with a prominent yolk sac tumour component and 1 choriocarcinoma). The Aurora B protein expression was detected in all intratubular germ cell tumours, seminomas and embryonal carcinomas analysed but not in teratomas and yolk sac carcinomas. The immunohistochemical data were further confirmed by Western blot analysis. In addition, the kinase Aurora B was vigorously expressed in GC-1 cells line derived from murine spermatogonia. The block of Aurora B function induced by a pharmacological inhibitor significantly reduced the growth of GC-1 cells suggesting that Aurora B is a potential therapeutic target.

Author information

Author/s: Esposito, Francesco (F); Libertini, Silvana (S); Franco, Renato (R); Abagnale, Antonella (A); Marra, Luigi (L); Portella, Giuseppe (G); Chieffi, Paolo (P);

Affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Patologia Cellulare e Molecolare, Università di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of cellular physiology (J Cell Physiol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Nov; vol 221 (issue 2) : pp 435-9

Dates: Created 2009/08/27; Completed 2009/09/09;

PMID: 19626681, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/9/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.