Cancer beats the clock

New research unveils the important role of cell division timing mechanisms in the formation of cancer

Ground breaking research funded by Cancer Research UK has enabled the discovery of a crucial mechanism involved in the timing of cell division, shedding light on how cancer cells manage to evade normal cellular safeguards. The study, conducted by the Barr lab at Oxford's Biochemistry department, highlights the pivotal role of the protein MDM2 in regulating the duration of cell division.

Members of the Barr lab from left to right: Francis Barr, Caleb Batley, Luke Fulcher, Tomoaki Sobajima, Ian Gibbs-Seymour

Under normal circumstances, cell division is a finely tuned process essential for the replacement and replenishment of the trillions of cells in the human body. However, when this process goes awry, it can lead to diseases such as cancer. 

The new research reveals that if cell division takes longer than one hour, the protein MDM2 depletes, triggering another protein called p53 to halt the growth of these damaged cells. This protective timing mechanism ensures that cells taking too long to divide—an indicator of potential damage—are instructed to stop growing. However, in the majority of cancers, this pathway malfunctions, allowing cancer cells to continue to grow. ‘When it comes to cell division, it turns out that slow and steady doesn’t win the race! Taking too long to divide is a sure sign that something has gone wrong within the cell,’ explains Professor Francis Barr, Head of the Department of Biochemistry.

The discovery of MDM2's role as a timer in cell division provides valuable insight into how damaged cells are normally stopped from growing, and how the failure of this mechanism can lead to cancer. Read the full research paper in Nature Cell Biology.