Cell Death & Disease
NEK2-AURKA axis drives ubiquitin-dependent IFT88 degradation to suppress ciliogenesis and promote basal-type bladder cancer
Abstract Loss of primary cilia is common in cancer, but its relevance to molecular subtypes of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is unclear. Here, we combined transcriptomic and co-expression analyses with experiments in bladder cancer cell lines, human tumor specimens, and xenografts to investigate the basis of cilia loss in basal MIBC. Primary cilia were less frequent in basal than in luminal MIBC. Depletion of IFT88 reduced ciliogenesis and increased cell proliferation and migration. Conversely, IFT88 overex …