Genes 2019, 10(3), 208; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10030208
The Mitotic Cancer Target Polo-Like Kinase 1: Oncogene or Tumor Suppressor?
Cell Cycle & Cancer Biomarkers Group, Cancer Biology Department, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas “Alberto Sols” (IIBm), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas & Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, (CSIC-UAM), C/Arturo Duperier 4, 28029 Madrid, Spain
Received: 18 February 2018 / Revised: 5 March 2019 / Accepted: 6 March 2019 / Published: 11 March 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cell Cycle and Regulation)
Abstract
The master mitotic regulator, Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1), is an essential gene for the correct execution of cell division. Plk1 has strong clinical relevance, as it is considered a bona fide cancer target, it is found overexpressed in a large collection of different cancer types and this tumoral overexpression often correlates with poor patient prognosis. All these data led the scientific community to historically consider Plk1 as an oncogene. Although there is a collection of scientific reports showing how Plk1 can contribute to tumor progression, recent data from different laboratories using mouse models, show that Plk1 can surprisingly play as a tumor suppressor. Therefore, the fact that Plk1 is an oncogene is now under debate. This review summarizes the proposed mechanisms by which Plk1 can play as an oncogene or as a tumor suppressor, and extrapolates this information to clinical features. View Full-TextKeywords:
polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1); mitosis; oncogene; tumor-suppressor; chromosome instability (CIN), aneuploidy; cancer
▼
Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).
Share & Cite This Article
MDPI and ACS Style
de Cárcer, G. The Mitotic Cancer Target Polo-Like Kinase 1: Oncogene or Tumor Suppressor? Genes 2019, 10, 208.
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.