Aurora Borealis (BORA), a mitotic protein that plays a key role in activating the master mitotic kinase polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1), has an oncogenic role in ovarian cancer

Cancers, Vol. 12, Pages 886: Aurora Borealis (Bora), Which Promotes Plk1 Activation by Aurora A, Has an Oncogenic Role in Ovarian Cancer:



Cancers, Vol. 12, Pages 886: Aurora Borealis (Bora), Which Promotes Plk1 Activation by Aurora A, Has an Oncogenic Role in Ovarian Cancer

Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers12040886

Authors:
Alfonso Parrilla
Marta Barber
Blanca Majem
Josep Castellví
Juan Morote
José Luis Sánchez
Asunción Pérez-Benavente
Miguel F. Segura
Antonio Gil-Moreno
Anna Santamaria


Identifying novel actionable factors that critically contribute to tumorigenesis is essential in ovarian cancer, an aggressive and disseminative tumor, with limited therapeutic options available. Here we show that Aurora Borealis (BORA), a mitotic protein that plays a key role in activating the master mitotic kinase polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1), has an oncogenic role in ovarian cancer. Gain and loss of function assays on mouse models and ex vivo patient-derived ascites cultures revealed an oncogenic role of BORA in tumor development and a transcriptome-analysis in clinically representative models depicted BORA’s role in survival, dissemination and inflammatory cancer related-pathways. Importantly, combinatory treatments of FDA-approved inhibitors against oncogenic downstream effectors of BORA displayed synergistic effect in ovarian cancer models, offering promising therapeutic value. Altogether, our findings uncovered for the first time a critical role of BORA in the viability of human cancer cells providing potential novel therapeutic opportunities for ovarian cancer management.