Life-Saver or Undertaker: The Relationship between Primary Cilia and Cell Death in Vertebrate Embryonic Development

The development of multicellular organisms requires a tightly coordinated network of cellular processes and intercellular signalling. For more than 20 years, it has been known that primary cilia are deeply involved in the mediation of intercellular signalling and that ciliary dysfunction results in severe developmental defects. Cilia-mediated signalling regulates cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, migration, etc. Another cellular process ensuring proper embryonic development is cell death. While the effect of cilia-mediated signalling on many cellular processes has been extensively studied, the relationship between primary cilia and cell death remains largely unknown. This article provides a short review on the current knowledge about this relationship.