ABSTRACT
Aurora kinases are a family of serine/threoning kinases whose structures and functions are highly conserved in different model organisms. They play significant roles in many events during cell mitosis, such as centrosome maturation and separation, spindle assembly and maintenance, chromosome segregation, cytokinesis. Overexpression of aurora kinases has been observed in some tumor ceils and aberrations in aurora kinases have been proved to be strongly associated with tumorigenesis. Up to now, some small molecule aurora kinase inhibitors with anti-tumor activity have been developed. Some of those with promising pre-clinical results have reached clinical trial. This review describes the recent progress of aurora kinases and their small molecule inhibitors.
