Forcing dividing cancer cells to die

Since every cancer cell must divide to proliferate, stopping mitosis seems at first glance to be an excellent strategy to fight cancer. However, while conventional drugs stopping mitosis are highly efficient, they cause serious side-effects and lead to the development of drug resistance.

In a recent review published in Apoptosis, researchers from the laboratories of Pr. Patrycja Nowak-Sliwinska and Pr. Patrick Meraldidescribe a promising approach targeting the ability of cancer cells to “cluster” the poles of the mitotic spindle into a bipolar configuration. This strategy based on a combination of drugs should allow to target specifically cancer cells and force them to die.

This review is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between the two laboratories, whose respective expertise in pharmacology and cell biology have led to major advances.

Cancer cells tend to form multipolar spindles (red aggregates) and are able to survive by “clustering” them into a normal bipolar configuration. The new combination of drugs described in this review prevents them from clustering their spindle and force them to die. ©  adapted from Figure 1 in Ducrey et al. 2021. Apoptosis

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