Microtubule and mitosis dynamics

Microtubules are dynamic protein filaments that form the mitotic spindle, the molecular machinery responsible for pulling duplicated chromosomes apart during cell division with extraordinary fidelity. When this process goes wrong — through errors in the mitotic checkpoint, dysregulation of molecular motors like kinesin proteins, or misactivation of kinases such as Aurora A and B — cells can inherit the wrong number of chromosomes, a state known as aneuploidy that is a hallmark of most solid tumors. Researchers are actively working to understand how cells distinguish correctly attached chromosomes from misattached ones at the molecular level, and how low-level chromosomal instability can be tolerated or even exploited by cancer cells to evolve drug resistance. These mechanistic insights are driving efforts to target spindle assembly components therapeutically, with the challenge of selectively killing rapidly dividing tumor cells without disrupting the normal cell divisions that healthy tissue depends on.

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Keywords

MicrotubulesCell DivisionMitotic CheckpointMolecular MotorsAneuploidyKinesin Proteins