Cell-Cycle Control, Genome Stability, and Therapeutic Vulnerabilities in Human Disease

Cell division is one of the most essential processes in living systems. To divide correctly, cells rely on control mechanisms, collectively known as cell-cycle checkpoints, that verify DNA has been copied accurately, chromosomes are ready to separate, and daughter cells can form safely. These mechanisms protect genome stability and prevent the transmission of cellular damage across generations.When checkpoints fail, cells continue dividing despite errors in DNA replication, chromosome segregation, or cytokinesis. The consequences include genome instability, aneuploidy, polyploidy, tissue dysfunction, and disease. Understanding how checkpoints operate, how they fail, and how cells adapt to checkpoint defects is therefore central to the biology of cell growth and division. It is also increasingly relevant to therapeutic discovery.This Research Topic brings together work on the mechanisms that link cell-cycle control, checkpoint failure, genome stability, and disease-relevant cellular behavior. We are particularly interested in studies that show how defects in cell-division control create biological vulnerabilities with therapeutic potential. Cancer is one important context, but the focus remains the regulation of cell growth and division across human disease models more broadly. We welcome contributions from researchers working in adjacent areas, such as DNA replication stress, chromosome biology, genome maintenance, and cytokinesis, whose work illuminates how cell-division control shapes cellular fate.We welcome original research, reviews, mini reviews, perspectives, methods, and hypothesis articles addressing, but not limited to:Mechanisms of cell-cycle and cell-division checkpoint regulationG1/S, intra-S, G2/M, spindle assembly, and abscission checkpointsDNA replication stress and its impact on genome stabilityChromosome segregation errors, aneuploidy, and chromosomal instabilityCytokinesis failure, polyploidy, and abnormal cell growthCellular responses to DNA damage during cell-cycle progressionMolecular pathways enabling adaptation to or bypass of checkpoint failureDisease-relevant models of checkpoint dysfunctionTherapeutic vulnerabilities arising from defective cell-cycle controlBiomarkers and molecular signatures of checkpoint defects and abnormal proliferationExperimental approaches to study checkpoint activity, cell division, and genome stabilityBy focusing on the mechanisms that govern cell division and their consequences in disease, this Research Topic aims to clarify how checkpoint failure shapes pathological cell behavior and how these insights may inform future therapeutic strategies. Topic editors: Eleni Petsalaki, Sarah Sabatinos Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81499/cell-cycle-control-genome-stability-and-therapeutic-vulnerabilities-in-human-disease