Aneuploidy is an abnormal chromosome number.

 aneuploidy is the most common characteristic of human solid tumours. It has therefore been proposed that aneuploidy contributes to, or even drives, tumour development.

 aneuploidy and the mitotic checkpoint

• The mitotic checkpoint guards against chromosome mis-segregation by delaying cell-cycle progression through mitosis until all chromosomes have successfully made spindle-microtubule attachments.
• Defects in the mitotic checkpoint generate aneuploidy and might facilitate tumorigenesis, but more severe disabling of checkpoint signalling is a possible anticancer strategy.

Features

 chromosomal aneuploidy and tumorigenesis

References

 Cimini D, Degrassi F. Aneuploidy: a matter of bad connections. Trends Cell Biol. 2005 Aug;15(8):442-51. PMID: #16023855#

 Kops GJ, Weaver BA, Cleveland DW. On the road to cancer: aneuploidy and the mitotic checkpoint. Nat Rev Cancer. 2005 Oct;5(10):773-85. PMID: #16195750#

 Matzke MA, Mette MF, Kanno T, Matzke AJ. Does the intrinsic instability of aneuploid genomes have a causal role in cancer ? Trends Genet. 2003 May ;19(5):253-6. PMID : #12711216#