A characterization of mitotic and centrosomal defects in a continuum model of Breast Cancer

Errors in mitosis can contribute to aneuploidy and CIN and play a pivotal role in cancer. So the identification of altered mitotic regulators can contribute to the understanding of the development and progression of breast cancer. In the present study we used an in vitro model of disease progression (the MCF10A series of BC continuum) and analyzed the errors of chromosome segregation that occur during the progression of the disease. Our findings indicated that the MCF10A series exhibited several abnormalities in chromosome segregation and its frequency increased with the disease progression. These errors included anaphase lagging chromosomes, micronuclei, nuclear buds, nucleoplasmic bridges, errors of chromosome alignment, and centrosome loss/amplification. Moreover, the presence of centrosome amplification disrupted the proper orientation of the mitotic spindle, resulting in the generation asymmetrical cell lines and aneuploidy in the MCF10A series. Hyper stable kinetochore-microtubule (kt-MT) attachment was also found in premalignant, preinvasive, and invasive cell lines, which can also explain the presence of errors of chromosome alignment. The human transcriptome array also determined possible negative regulators of ciliogenesis that can explain the mechanism of chromosome missegregation that lead to CIN found in the MCF10A series. Collectively, these findings highlight the importance of mitotic defects in the progression of breast cancer.