Cancer cells are notorious rule-breakers. Sometimes, they even end up with the wrong number of chromosomes.
At the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute, the Kitagawa Lab, led by Katsumi Kitagawa, Pharm.D., PhD, is investigating how mistakes involving our chromosomes may contribute to childhood cancer.
Normally, when a cell divides, it must copy and distribute its chromosomes with remarkable precision. But cancer cells can experience chromosomal instability (CIN)—repeated errors that cause chromosomes to be gained, lost, or rearranged.
The result can be aneuploidy, meaning a cell has an abnormal number of chromosomes. The Kitagawa Lab studies the molecular machinery responsible for accurate chromosome segregation and investigates how failures in this process may contribute to pediatric tumor development.
Why does that matter?
Understanding how cancer cells develop and survive these chromosome errors could expose weaknesses researchers may eventually be able to target. Recent collaborative work involving the Kitagawa Lab has also examined chromosome abnormalities in Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive cancer affecting children and young adults.
To find better ways to fight childhood cancer, sometimes we have to understand what happens when the fundamental rules of cell division break down.
By uncovering how chromosome instability contributes to cancer, the Kitagawa Lab is helping build the scientific foundation needed to identify new vulnerabilities and, ultimately, new treatment strategies.
🔬 Learn more about the Kitagawa Lab
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