Nuclear Lamins in Cancer

Dysmorphic nuclei are commonly seen in cancers and provide strong motivation for studying in various cancer contexts the main structural proteins of nuclei, the lamins. Past studies have separately demonstrated the importance of microenvironment mechanics to cancer progression, which is extremely interesting because the lamina was recently shown to be mechanosensitive. Here, we review current knowledge relating cancer progression to lamina biophysics and biology. Lamin levels can modulate cancer cell migration in 3D and thereby impact tumor growth, and lamins can also protect or not a cancer cell’s genome. In addition, lamins can influence transcriptional regulators (RAR, SRF, YAP/TAZ) as well as chromosome conformation in lamina associated domains. Further investigation of the roles for lamins in cancer and even DNA damage may lead to new therapies or at least to a clearer understanding of lamins as bio-markers in cancer progression.