Ki-67 protein marks which cells are actively dividing
In short: A review of research on the Ki-67 protein found that it appears only in actively dividing human cells and disappears once cells stop dividing and enter a resting state. This makes it a useful marker for measuring what fraction of a cell population is actively growing, including in human tumors such as breast and prostate cancer.
The protein moves around inside dividing cells, staying in the nucleus between divisions and shifting onto the chromosomes during mitosis. In tumors, the proportion of Ki-67-positive cells has repeatedly been linked to survival and cancer recurrence in studies of breast and prostate cancer, though exactly what the protein does inside cells is still not understood.
This is a review summarizing existing laboratory and clinical research rather than a new study, so the protein's precise biological role remains an open and still-debated question despite its widespread use as a marker.
Why it matters: Ki-67 helps researchers identify which cells are dividing and may help predict cancer outcomes, though why the protein matters biologically is still unclear.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Research: Scholzen and Gerdes (2000). The Ki-67 protein: from the known and the unknown. Journal of cellular physiology.
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