BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

CDK8 is Enough in Colorectal Cancer

September 25, 2008 7:00 AM UTC

Of the 11 known cyclin-dependent kinases, about half have long been the focus of cancer drug developers because they are involved in controlling cell-cycle progression, which goes into overdrive in cancer. However, none of the companies developing cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors for cancer is specifically targeting cyclin-dependent kinase 8, a kinase that has been considered a player in transcription initiation but with minimal effects on the cell cycle.

Now, two papers in Natureoutline how cyclin-dependent kinase 8 (CDK8) controls a critical pathway in colorectal cancer that is unrelated to cell-cycle control.1,2 The findings open a new angle of attack that is downstream of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a target of approved antibodies against the cancer. Companies in the space now have good cause to re-examine CDK8 as a target, although this new role may require new compound-screening strategies and in vivoassays...