Mitotic kinase dynamics of the active form of AMPK (phospho-AMPKalphaThr172) in human cancer cells.

When interrogating the activation status of AMP-activated protein kinase-measured as AMPKalpha(Thr172) phosphorylation-in tissue sections of human carcinomas and in cultured human cancer cells, the spatiotemporal dynamics of AMPK activity during the G(1)/S-to-M-phase transition strikingly resembles that of well-characterized "chromosomal passenger" proteins such as Aurora B, INCENP or Histone H3. The mitotic kinase behavior of the active form of AMPK may represent a candidate molecular link through which energy status directly influences tumorigenesis. A definitive elucidation of phospho-AMPKalpha(Thr172) in coordinating the chromosomal and cytoskeletal events of mitosis might radically amend our current perception of other AMPK-related diseases such as obesity, cardiac hypertrophy or accelerated aging syndromes.