Michal Sobecki, Karim Mrouj, Alain Camasses, Nikolaos Parisis, Emilien Nicolas, David Llères, François Gerbe, Susana Prieto, Liliana Krasinska, Alexandre David, Manuel Eguren, Marie-Christine Birling, Serge Urbach, Sonia Hem, Jérôme Déjardin, Marcos Malumbres, Philippe Jay, Vjekoslav Dulic, Denis Lj Lafontaine, Robert Feil, Daniel Fisher
Antigen Ki-67 is a nuclear protein expressed in proliferating mammalian cells. It is widely used in cancer histopathology but its functions remain unclear. Here, we show that Ki-67 controls heterochromatin organisation. Altering Ki-67 expression levels did not significantly affect cell proliferation in vivo. Ki-67 mutant mice developed normally and cells lacking Ki-67 proliferated efficiently. Conversely, upregulation of Ki-67 expression in differentiated tissues did not prevent cell cycle arrest. Ki-67 interactors included proteins involved in nucleolar processes and chromatin regulators...
March 7, 2016: ELife