BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

Cancer

June 27, 2017 4:06 PM UTC

In vitro and cell culture studies suggest inhibiting hyperphosphorylation of BRD4 could help treat NUT midline carcinoma (NMC) and other cancers. In human NMC, leukemia and lymphoma cell lines, levels of hyperphosphorylated BRD4 were higher than in HEK cells. Screening of kinase inhibitors in NMC cell line-based pulldown and proliferation assays identified several CDK9 inhibitors, including flavopiridol, that blocked the CKD9-BRD4 interaction, decreased levels of hyperphosphorylated BRD4 compared with vehicle, and decreased NMC proliferation compared with no treatment. Next steps include developing antibodies against hyperphosphorylated BRD4...