Fiche publication


Date publication

septembre 2026

Journal

EMBO molecular medicine

Auteurs

Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Dr ALPY Fabien , Dr SUMARA Izabela , Dr TOMASETTO Catherine , Dr VILLA Pascal , Dr NOMINE Yves , Dr BONNET Dominique , Dr PANGOU Evanthia


Tous les auteurs :
Pangou E, Awal S, Meode M, Kleiss C, Cloarec M, Grandgirard E, Vivot K, Guerber L, Krupina K, Jerabkova-Roda K, Costa PJD, Alpy F, Martinet A, Lodi M, Cousido-Siah A, Wendling O, Hany R, Riché S, Daubeuf F, Gizzi P, Villa P, Nominé Y, Tomasetto C, Bonnet D, Sumara I

Résumé

Cancer cells tolerate mitotic errors to sustain proliferation, yet the molecular dependencies enabling this tolerance remain poorly understood and largely unexploited therapeutically. UBASH3B ensures mitotic fidelity by regulating Aurora B localization and is overexpressed in tumors. We investigated whether pharmacological disruption of this pathway exposes a mitotic dependency in cancer. We demonstrate that the UBASH3B 2HP domain represents a druggable interface for disrupting UBASH3B-dependent Aurora B regulation. We identify UBASHIN, a small-molecule inhibitor targeting this domain. UBASHIN phenocopies UBASH3B depletion, causing Aurora B mislocalization, mitotic arrest and mitotic cell death. UBASHIN impairs UBASH3B localization to the mitotic spindle and selectively inhibits cancer cell proliferation while sparing non-cancerous cells. UBASH3B protein levels and the cellular ability to sustain mitotic arrest, but not global aneuploidy, predict UBASHIN sensitivity, supporting a cancer-specific on-target mechanism. In colorectal and triple-negative breast cancer mouse models, UBASHIN reduces tumor volume comparably to docetaxel, without detectable toxicity in wild-type animals. These findings identify the UBASH3B pathway as a cancer-specific mitotic vulnerability and highlight its pharmacological inhibition as a selective therapeutic strategy.

Référence

EMBO Mol Med. 2026 09 22;: