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Inhibition of RNA polymerase II-activating CDK9 and CDK12/13, but not of cell cycle relevant CDKs, induces apoptosis by downregulating the short-lived Bcl-2 proteins Mcl1 and Bfl1/A1

Crossref DOI link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-026-08889-6

Published Online: 2026-05-27

Update policy: https://doi.org/10.1007/springer_crossmark_policy

Authors

Krings, Karina S. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6519-1395
Hatzfeld, Judith https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7466-5431
Weller, Sandra

Borkowski, Nadine

Llewellyn, Tanya R.

Schmitt, Laura https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0020-9800
Scherer, Bo

Itkonen, Harri M.

Peter, Christoph https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0048-2279
Stork, Björn https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4167-7806
Geyh, Stefanie

Eickhoff, Jan

Klebl, Bert

Qin, Nan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3442-8043
Essmann, Frank

Wesselborg, Sebastian https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5236-942X
Funding

Funding for this research was provided by:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (270650915/GRK 2158)

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (270650915/GRK 2158)
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Text and Data Mining valid from 2026-05-27

Version of Record valid from 2026-05-27
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Article History

Received: 9 January 2026

Revised: 22 April 2026

Accepted: 14 May 2026

First Online: 27 May 2026

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing financial interests. JE and BK are employees of Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC). LDC has licensed intellectual property (IP) covering CDK9 inhibitor atuveciclib to Bayer AG, which was later on sublicensed to Vincerx Pharma, Inc. In addition, LDC licensed additional chemistry IP for CDK7 inhibitors (e.g., LDC4297, leading to Q901 and QS1189) to Qurient Co. Ltd.

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