Anticancer compounds that exploit a compromised checkpoint in the cell cycle

Many cancer-driving mutations disable a key checkpoint in the cell’s cycle between growth and division, resulting in unchecked activity of the E2F family of transcription factor proteins. A set of compounds developed to directly block key regulators of the cell cycle called cyclins can suppress the growth of cancers driven by high E2F activity. In E2F-driven cancers, inhibitors of proteins called cyclins paradoxically cause cell death by enhancing the activity of cyclin B.