MCPH1, a potential predictor for response to cancer chemotherapy

Excerpt

We previously identified MCPH1, a DNA damage response protein involved in the regulation of the breast cancer tumour suppressor gene BRCA1, as the defective protein in one form of microcephaly [1]. We found that reduced expression of MCPH1 causes premature chromosome condensation (PCC) [2]. PCC is a hallmark of mammalian cells that begin mitosis before completing DNA replication. The MCPH1 locus (8p22-p23) is frequently deleted in many tumour types and this is associated with a poor prognosis and a reduced response to chemotherapy in breast cancer [3]. Many chemotherapeutic agents such as taxanes (for example, Taxol) require a functional spindle checkpoint for the induction of apoptosis in cancer cells. …