Expression of the kinetochore protein Hec1 during the cell cycle in normal and cancer cells and its regulation by the pRb pathway.

Highly Expressed in Cancer protein 1 (Hec1) is a subunit of the Ndc80 complex, a constituent of the mitotic kinetochore. HEC1 has been shown to be overexpressed in many cancers, suggesting that HEC1 upregulation is involved in the generation and/or maintenance of the tumour phenotype. However, the regulation of Hec1 expression in normal and tumour cells and the molecular alterations promoting accumulation of this protein in cancer cells are still unknown. Here we show that elevated Hec1 protein levels are characteristic of transformed cell lines of different origins and that kinetochore recruitment of this protein is also increased in cancer cell lines in comparison with normal human cells.…