Brain cancer linked to nuclear pore alterations

Several types of cancer are believed to be linked to alterations of macromolecular structures known as nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). These structures are embedded in the nuclear envelope, a membrane barrier that separates the nucleus of a cell from the cytoplasm (the liquid filling the rest of the cell). They consist of proteins called nucleoporins, which regulate the transport of molecules across the nuclear envelope, including enzymes that enable the synthesis of DNA. Whether NPC alterations play a role in glioblastoma, the most common type of cancer originating in the brain, is unclear at the moment.