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Fig. 1 | Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research

Fig. 1

From: CDK9 inhibitors in acute myeloid leukemia

Fig. 1

Role of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)9 in gene transcription and cancer cell survival. CDK9 associates with cyclin T1 (CycT), forming the positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) complex that regulates gene transcription elongation and mRNA maturation [15]. The P-TEFb complex remains inactive when bound to hexamethylene bisacetamide-inducible protein 1 (HEXIM1), which is associated with the noncoding 7SK small nuclear RNA (snRNA) [45]. Bromodomain protein 4 (BRD4) recruits P-TEFb to activate the complex and transcription. CDK9 phosphorylates the carboxyl terminal domain of RNA polymerase II (RNA Pol II), allowing transcriptional elongation and expression of genes such as MYC and MCL-1, which together increase proliferation and survival of cancer cells

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