Search results for "cyclin-dependent kinase"

Type 1 diabetic mellitus patients with increased atherosclerosis risk display decreased CDKN2A/2B/2BAS gene expression in leukocytes

2019

Background Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients display increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and are characterized by a diminished regulatory T (Treg) cell content or function. Previous studies have shown an association between decreased CDKN2A/2B/2BAS gene expression and enhanced CVD. In the present study the potential relationship between CDKN2A/2B/2BAS gene expression, immune cell dysfunction and increased cardiovascular risk in T1DM patients was explored. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed in 90 subjects divided into controls and T1DM patients. Circulating leukocyte subpopulations analysis by flow cytometry, expression studies on peripheral blood mononuclear cel…

A Definitive Pharmacophore Modelling Study on CDK2 ATP Pocket Binders: Tracing the Path of New Virtual High-Throughput Screenings

2020

Cyclin Dependent Kinases-2 (CDK2) are members of serine/threonine protein kinases family. They play an important role in the regulation events of the eukaryotic cell division cycle, especially during the G1 to S phase transition. Experimental evidence indicate that excessive expression of CDK2s should cause abnormal cell cycle regulation. Therefore, since a long time, CDK2s have been considered potential therapeutic targets for cancer therapy. In this work, onehundred and forty-nine complexes of inhibitors bound in the CDK2-ATP pocket were submitted to short MD simulations (10ns) and free energy calculation. Comparison with experimental data (K<sub>i</sub>, K<sub>d</su…

Comparing molecular dynamics-derived pharmacophore models with docking: A study on CDK-2 inhibitors

2020

Abstract We compared the performance of molecular dynamics (MD)-derived pharmacophore modeling approaches, Common Hit Approach (CHA), and the Molecular dYnamics SHAred PharmacophorE (MYSHAPE) approach, with semi-flexible constrained/unconstrained docking. The aim of this work is to enrich the hit-list of a virtual screening on CDK-2 known inhibitors as a case study. Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) deregulation is associated with cancer growth. CDKs are an attractive target for anticancer agents. MD-derived pharmacophore models have been obtained with LigandScout 4.2.1. Docking analysis has been performed through Glide 7.6. The results highlighted the MYSHAPE approach has a better performanc…

Differences in the mechanisms of growth control in contact-inhibited and serum-deprived human fibroblasts

1997

In the present work we studied mechanisms of growth control in contact-inhibited and serum-deprived human diploid fibroblasts. The observation that the effects on [3H]thymidine incorporation and reduction of retinoblastoma gene product-phosphorylation were additive when contact-inhibition and serum-deprivation were combined led us to the conclusion that the underlying mechanisms might be different. Both contact-inhibition and serum-deprivation led to a strong decrease of cdk4-kinase-activity and cdk2-phosphorylation at Thr 160, while the total amounts of cdk4 and cdk2 remained constant. In contact-inhibited cells, we revealed a strong protein accumulation of the cdk2-inhibitor p27 and a sli…

Cyclin dependent kinase-1 (Cdk-1) inhibition as a novel therapeutic strategy against pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (pdac)

2021

Simple Summary Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal cancers in humans, due to late diagnosis and limited treatment possibilities. Improved treatment for PDAC patients is warranted. Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) is a stimulator of cell cycle progression and its activity is regularly enhanced in pancreatic cancer cells. Therefore, CDK1 has been proposed as a novel drug target to treat patients with PDAC. This review describes the potential of CDK1 inhibition as a treatment for PDAC by outlining the molecular pathways influenced by CDK1 inhibition and new therapeutic strategies. Abstract The role of CDK1 in PDAC onset and development is two-fold. Firstly, since …

Targeting transcriptional addictions in small cell lung cancer with a covalent CDK7 inhibitor.

2014

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive disease with high mortality, and the identification of effective pharmacological strategies to target SCLC biology represents an urgent need. Using a high-throughput cellular screen of a diverse chemical library, we observe that SCLC is sensitive to transcription-targeting drugs, in particular to THZ1, a recently identified covalent inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase 7. We find that expression of super-enhancer-associated transcription factor genes, including MYC family proto-oncogenes and neuroendocrine lineage-specific factors, is highly vulnerability to THZ1 treatment. We propose that downregulation of these transcription factors contribut…

2015

Notch receptors play an essential role in the regulation of central cellular processes during embryonic and postnatal development. The mammalian genome encodes for four Notch paralogs (Notch 1-4), which are activated by three Delta-like (Dll1/3/4) and two Serrate-like (Jagged1/2) ligands. Further, non-canonical Notch ligands such as EGFL7 have been identified and serve mostly as antagonists of Notch signaling. The Notch pathway prevents neuronal differentiation in the central nervous system by driving neural stem cell maintenance and commitment of neural progenitor cells into the glial lineage. Notch is therefore often implicated in the development of brain tumors, as tumor cells share vari…

Evaluation of genetic melanoma vaccines in cdk4-mutant mice provides evidence for immunological tolerance against authochthonous melanomas in the skin

2005

We evaluated the efficacy of a candidate melanoma vaccine approach in mice genetically prone to develop melanoma due to the introduction of an oncogenic mutation (R24C) in the germline sequence of the cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (cdk4), a protein critically involved in cell cycle regulation. Melanomas were induced in cdk4-mutant mice by chemical carcinogenesis and UVB irradiation. A genetic prime-boost strategy targeting the clinically relevant differentiation antigen tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TRP2) was performed which was able to stimulate a melanocyte-specific cellular immune response associated with localized autoimmune vitiligo-like depigmentation. However, significant destruction of …

Bmi1 and Cell of Origin Determinants of Brain Tumor Phenotype

2007

Glioblastomas frequently express oncogenic EGFR and loss of the Ink4a/Arf locus. Bmi1, a positive regulator of stem cell self renewal, may be critical to drive brain tumor growth. In this issue of Cancer Cell, Bruggeman and colleagues suggest that brain tumors with these molecular alterations can be initiated in both neural precursor and differentiated cell compartments in the absence of Bmi1; however, tumorigenicity is reduced, and tumors contain fewer precursor cells. Surprisingly, tumors appear less malignant when initiated in precursor cells. Bmi1-deficient tumors also had fewer neuronal lineage cells, suggesting a role for Bmi1 in determination of cell lineage and tumor phenotype.

Recent advances in the development of cyclin-dependent kinase 7 inhibitors.

2019

Abstract Cyclin dependent kinase 7 (CDK7) plays a double role as it activates several other cyclin dependent kinases and participates to the initiation of transcription. This kinase is overexpressed in various types of tumors. Relatively few selective CDK7 inhibitors have been up to now disclosed. Most of these inhibitors belong to two chemical families: pyrazolopyrimidines and pyrazolotriazines on one side and pyrimidines on another side. They also differ by their molecular mechanism of action. Some are acting as competitive inhibitors and some others are covalent inhibitors. With these tools, the understanding of the potential therapeutic interest of CDK7 inhibitors in cancer is rapidly g…