The perinucleolar compartment: RNA metabolism and cancer

John T. Norton, Sui Huang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

The perinucleolar compartment (PNC) is a nuclear substructure associated with, but structurally distinct from, the nucleolus. The PNC contains several RNA processing proteins and several RNA pol III transcripts, which form novel complexes. As determined by cell culture experiments and human tumor samples, the PNC forms exclusively in cancer cells and the percentage of cancer cells in a population that have one or more PNCs directly correlates with the malignancy of that population of cells. Therefore, the PNC is being developed as a prognostic marker for several malignancies. PNC elimination in cancer cells has proven to be a useful as screening method to discover probe compounds used to elucidate PNC biology and to discover compounds with the potential to be developed as minimally toxic anti-cancer drugs.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationRNA and Cancer
PublisherKluwer Academic Publishers
Pages139-152
Number of pages14
ISBN (Print)9783642316586
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013

Publication series

NameCancer Treatment and Research
ISSN (Print)0927-3042

Keywords

  • Cancer
  • Chromatin
  • Nuclear architecture
  • PNC
  • RNPs

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

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