Centrosomes organize the cellular microtubule network, which requires precise regulation to avoid disruptions in intracellular trafficking. However, centrosome amplification (CA) is a common feature of human cancers, which suggests the possibility that cancers harboring CA may also harbor intrinsic weaknesses that could be exploited in the clinic. Here, Denu and colleagues report that cancer cells with CA exhibit an increased reliance on autophagy, and accumulate supernumerary autophagosomes relative to cells without CA. The authors demonstrate that this accumulation was due to a defect in autophagosome trafficking to lysosomes as a result of the disrupted microtubule networks, and cells with CA are sensitized to genetic and pharmacologic targeting of the autophagy cascade. Taken together, the data suggest that CA could be used as a predictive biomarker to identify patients who would derive benefit from treatment with autophagy inhibitors.

Cisplatin resistance (CR) is a pervasive hurdle in the clinical management of lung...

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