The Expression of the Aurora-A Gene and Its Significance with Tumorgenesis in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) has a wide biological heterogeneity with various cell origin and biological features. Recent WHO classification of lymphoid neoplasms gives importance to immunological and cytogenetic features in addition to morphologic aspects of tumors. Several investigators have performed NHL subclassification based on other biological features of tumor cells. It is extremely important to clarify the proliferation mechanism of tumor cells, and understanding this mechanism may provide insight not only into the biology of tumors but also into the treatment strategy for NHL. Therefore, research focused on the cell cycle is one of the major approaches to the biology and the oncogenesis of NHL. The Aurora kinase family recently identified from Drosophila melamogaster is believed to be an essential kinase involved in mitotic cell cycles. Several groups have reported that Aurora kinases are overexpressed in some solid tumors, suggesting that Aurora kinases may be involved in tumor survival and proliferation. Here, we focus on the role of Aurora-A kinase in the tumorgenesis of NHL using our recent research data, and discuss the possibility of Aurora-A as a new molecular target of NHL treatment.