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Updated: Dec 17, 2025

Through the Looking Glass: Time-lapse Microscopy and Longitudinal Tracking of Single Cells to Study Anti-cancer Therapeutics
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Published on: May 14, 2016

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Dissecting the Pol II transcription cycle and derailing cancer with CDK inhibitors

Pabitra K Parua1, Robert P Fisher2

  • 1Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.

Nature Chemical Biology
|June 24, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) regulate cell division and transcription. New selective CDK inhibitors show promise for cancer therapy by targeting transcriptional CDKs.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Biochemistry
  • Cancer Biology

Background:

  • Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are crucial regulators of cell division and transcription.
  • Distinct CDK sets govern cell cycle progression and RNA polymerase II (Pol II)-dependent transcription.
  • The precise roles of specific CDKs in transcription remain an active area of research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the molecular mechanisms of CDKs in transcription.
  • To highlight the emergence of transcriptional CDKs as cancer drug targets.
  • To discuss advances in understanding the CDK transcriptional network.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on CDK functions in transcription.
  • Analysis of data from small-molecule inhibitors targeting individual CDKs.
  • Examination of cancer cell selectivity of CDK inhibitors.

Main Results:

  • Specific CDKs act at discrete steps in the transcription cycle.
  • Development of selective small-molecule CDK inhibitors has advanced understanding.
  • Several inhibitors demonstrated cancer cell selectivity, despite broad CDK roles in transcription.

Conclusions:

  • Transcriptional CDKs are promising therapeutic targets in oncology.
  • Further research is needed to define individual CDK functions in transcription.
  • Leveraging CDK inhibition for cancer therapy presents ongoing challenges and opportunities.

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