BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Selecting CDK7

July 24, 2014 7:00 AM UTC

Selective inhibitors of cyclin dependent kinases have been hard to develop because the active sites of many family members are so similar. Now, a Harvard Medical School team has found a cyclin dependent kinase 7 inhibitor that covalently binds a cysteine residue outside the enzyme's kinase domain and suppresses leukemia in mice.1

The strategy could pave the way for other specific inhibitors, but the key question is whether selective targeting results in a better therapeutic index...