Mayo Clinic researchers have challenged the conventional teaching about a common cancer trait and in doing so, discovered how cells are naturally “cancer proofed.” Their findings appear in today’s early online edition of the Dec. 15 issue of the journal Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature ). The researchers investigated aneuploidy (AN-u-ploy-dee), the state in which a cell has an abnormal number of chromosomes that creates cellular instability, giving rise to tumors. They discovered two key proteins that help prevent aneuploidy, and also found how the proteins work to “cancer proof” a cell: by preventing premature segregation of duplicated chromosomes during (nuclear) cell division.
