Structural and numerical chromosome changes in colon cancer develop through telomere-mediated anaphase bridges, not through mitotic multipolarity.

ABSTRACT: Telomere dysfunction has been associated with chromosomal instability in colorectal carcinoma, but the consequences of telomere-dependent instability for chromosome integrity and clonal evolution have been little explored. We show here that abnormally short telomeres lead to a wide spectrum of mitotic disturbances in colorectal cancer cell lines, including anaphase bridging, whole-chromosome lagging, and mitotic multipolarity. These abnormalities were found in both the presence and absence of microsatellite instability. The mean telomere length varied extensively between cells from the same tumor, allowing the establishment of tumor cell subpopulations with highly different frequencies of mitotic disturbances. Anaphase bridging typically resulted in either inter-centromeric chromatin fragm

SUBMITTER: Stewenius Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC556242 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature