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Updated: Sep 20, 2026

Through the Looking Glass: Time-lapse Microscopy and Longitudinal Tracking of Single Cells to Study Anti-cancer Therapeutics
06:00

Through the Looking Glass: Time-lapse Microscopy and Longitudinal Tracking of Single Cells to Study Anti-cancer Therapeutics

Published on: May 14, 2016

The cell cycle, chromatin and cancer: mechanism-based therapeutics come of age

Fiona McLaughlin1, Paul Finn, Nicholas B La Thangue

  • 1TopoTarget Prolifix, 87a Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, UK OX14 4RY.

Drug Discovery Today
|August 30, 2003
PubMed

Insights

New cancer drugs targeting cell cycle kinases (Cdk) and chromatin deacetylases (HDAC) show promising clinical efficacy. These mechanism-based therapies offer potential improvements over traditional chemotherapy.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Tumour cells exhibit uncontrolled proliferation.
  • Recent discoveries link cell cycle regulation with chromatin and gene expression.
  • Existing chemotherapeutics have limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore novel therapeutic strategies for cancer.
  • To investigate the role of Cdk and HDAC inhibitors in cancer treatment.

Main Methods:

  • Review of recent advances in cell cycle and chromatin control research.
  • Analysis of small-molecule drugs targeting cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdk) and histone deacetylases (HDAC).
  • Examination of emerging clinical data on Cdk and HDAC inhibitors.

Main Results:

  • Small-molecule inhibitors targeting Cdk and HDAC are in clinical studies.
  • These targeted therapies demonstrate emerging clinical efficacy.
  • Mechanism-based approaches integrate cell growth, division, and gene expression control.

Conclusions:

  • Targeted inhibition of Cdk and HDAC represents a promising therapeutic avenue.
  • These novel drugs may offer significant advantages over conventional chemotherapy.
  • Further clinical development of Cdk and HDAC inhibitors is warranted.

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