Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.7.6 (RNA polymerase)
 34,946 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a fatal disease without effective targeted therapy. We screened a small-molecule library of 116 inhibitors targeting different targets of the cell cycle and discovered several kinases, including Cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7) as vulnerabilities in CCA. Analysis of multiple CCA data sets demonstrated that CDK7 was overexpressed in CCA tissues. Further studies demonstrated that CDK7 inhibitor THZ1 inhibited cell viability and induced apoptosis in CCA cells. We also showed that THZ1 inhibited CCA cell growth in a xenograft model. RNA-sequencing followed by Gene ontology analysis showed a striking impact of THZ1 on DNA-templated transcriptional programs. THZ1 downregulated CDK7-mediated phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II, indicative of transcriptional inhibition. A number of oncogenic transcription factors and survival proteins, like MCL1, FOSL1, and RUNX1, were repressed by THZ1. MCL1, one of the antiapoptotic BCL2 family members, was significantly inhibited upon THZ1 treatment. Accordingly, combining THZ1 with a BCL2/BCL-XL inhibitor ABT-263 synergized in impairing cell growth and driving apoptosis. Our results demonstrate CDK7 as a potential target in treating CCA. Combinations of CDK7 inhibition and BCL2/BCL-XL inhibition may offer a novel therapeutic strategy for CCA.
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PMID:CDK7 inhibitor THZ1 inhibits MCL1 synthesis and drives cholangiocarcinoma apoptosis in combination with BCL2/BCL-XL inhibitor ABT-263. 3139 55

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignant tumor originating from cholangiocyte. Prolonged alcohol consumption has been suggested as a possible risk factor for CCA, but there is no information about alcohol's mechanisms in cholangiocyte. This study was designed to investigate global transcriptional alterations through RNA-sequencing by using chronic alcohol exposure (20 mM for 2 months) in normal human cholangiocyte MMNK-1 cells. To observe the association of alcohol induced CCA pathogenesis, we combined differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with computational bioinformatics of CCA by using publicly gene expression omnibus (GEO) datasets. For biological function analysis, Gene ontology (GO) analysis showed biological process and molecular function related to regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter, while cellular component linked to the nucleoplasm. KEGG pathway presented pathways in cancer that were significantly enriched. From KEGG result, we further examined the oncogenic features resulting in chronic alcohol exposure, enhanced proliferation, and migration through CCND-1 and MMP-2 up-regulation, respectively. Finally, combined DEGs were validated in clinical data including TCGA and immunohistochemistry from HPA database, demonstrating that FOS up-regulation was related to CCA pathogenesis. This study is the first providing more information and molecular mechanisms about global transcriptome alterations and oncogenic enhancement of chronic alcohol exposure in normal cholangiocytes.
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PMID:Integrative In Silico and In Vitro Transcriptomics Analysis Revealed Gene Expression Changes and Oncogenic Features of Normal Cholangiocytes after Chronic Alcohol Exposure. 3179 85