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Upsides and downsides to polarity and asymmetric cell division in leukemia

Oncogene volume 27, pages 7003–7017 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The notion that polarity regulators can act as tumor suppressors in epithelial cells is now well accepted. The function of these proteins in lymphocytes is less well explored, and their possible function as suppressors of leukemia has had little attention so far. We review the literature on lymphocyte polarity and the growing recognition that polarity proteins have an important function in lymphocyte function. We then describe molecular relationships between the polarity network and signaling pathways that have been implicated in leukemogenesis, which suggest mechanisms by which the polarity network might impact on leukemogenesis. We particularly focus on the possibility that disruption of polarity might alter asymmetric cell division (ACD), and that this might be a leukemia-initiating event. We also explore the converse possibility that leukemic stem cells might be produced or maintained by ACD, and therefore that Dlg, Scribble and Lgl might be important regulators of this process.

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Acknowledgements

We thank David Ritchie, Paul Neeson, Grant MacArthur and Helena Richardson for insightful comments on the paper, and members of the Russell lab for helpful discussion.

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  1. Research Division, Immune Signalling Laboratory, Cancer Immunology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    E D Hawkins & S M Russell

  2. Centre for MicroPhotonics, Swinburne University of Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

    S M Russell

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  1. E D Hawkins
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Correspondence to S M Russell.

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Hawkins, E., Russell, S. Upsides and downsides to polarity and asymmetric cell division in leukemia. Oncogene 27, 7003–7017 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2008.350

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