Cyclin D1 and Molecular Chaperones: Implications for Tumorigenesis

We recently investigated the mechanisms of cyclin D1 action in human cancer using global analyses of gene expression. With an experimentally-determined expression signature for cyclin D1 overexpression, gene expression data from human tumors, and a novel data-mining method, we were able to reveal a previously unappreciated and apparently predominant functional interdependency between cyclin D1 and C/EBPb. Many of the genes we found to be affected by cyclin D1 overexpression are recognized as molecular chaperones or their regulators. Might this provide insights to the role of the cyclin D1-C/EBPb axis in carcinogenesis?