Cyclin Dependent Kinases (CDKs) represent a large family of serine/threonine protein kinases that become active upon binding to a Cyclin regulatory partner. CDK/cyclin complexes recently identified, as well as “canonical” CDK/Cyclin complexes regulating cell cycle, are implicated in the regulation of gene expression via the phosphorylation of key components of the transcription and pre-mRNA processing machineries. In this review, we summarize the role of CDK/cyclin-dependent phosphorylation in the regulation of transcription and RNA splicing and highlight recent findings that indicate the involvement of CDK11/cyclin L complexes at the cross-roads of cell cycle, transcription and RNA splicing. Finally, we discuss the potential of CDK11 and Cyclins L as therapeutic targets in cancer.

细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶 (CDK) 代表一大类丝氨酸/苏氨酸蛋白激酶，它们在与细胞周期蛋白调节伙伴结合后变得活跃。最近发现的 CDK/细胞周期蛋白复合物，以及调节细胞周期的“经典”CDK/细胞周期蛋白复合物，通过转录和前 mRNA 加工机制的关键成分的磷酸化参与基因表达的调节。在这篇综述中，我们总结了 CDK/细胞周期蛋白依赖性磷酸化在转录和 RNA 剪接调节中的作用，并强调了最近的发现，这些发现表明 CDK11/细胞周期蛋白 L 复合物参与细胞周期、转录和 RNA 剪接的十字路口. 最后，我们讨论了 CDK11 和细胞周期蛋白 L 作为癌症治疗靶点的潜力。