Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Dual Modes of Gene Regulation by CDK12
doi: 10.1101/2025.09.22.677923
Figure Lengend Snippet: A. (Left) Summary plot of normalized enrichment scores (NES) for gene sets that are significantly upregulated in HCC1954 cells treated with CDK12 inhibitor (nominal p-value < 0.05). Blue dots denote MYC signature. (Right) GSEA plot of Hallmark_MYC Targets V1 for genes altered by THZ531 (200 nM, 4h) in HCC1954 (top) and SKBR3 (bottom) cells. Normalized enrichment score (NES) and p values are indicated. B. Traces of RNA-seq coverage over MYC in cells that were treated as indicated. Enlarged views for traces of CDK9 and CDK7 inhibition are shown as inserts with the y-axis scaled down. C. HCC1954 cells were treated as indicated for 4 h followed by total RNA extraction and reverse transcription. Quantitative PCR was then performed for the indicated genes. Note that MYC expression is increased, while other select DDR genes demonstrated significant downregulation. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 (Student’s t tests). D. HER2+ breast cancer cells were treated with THZ531 (200 nM) for the indicated time points. Cell lysates were prepared in SDS sample buffer and subjected to fluorescent immunoblotting. E. HCC1954 cells were treated with increasing concentrations of THZ531 (0, 12.5, 25, 50,100, 200, 400, and 800 nM) for 4 hours. Cell lysates were prepared and analyzed as in (G). F. HCC1954 cells were treated with Actinomycin D at the indicated doses in the presence of vehicle control or THZ531 (400 nM). Four hours post-treatment, cells were lysed with 1x SDS sample buffer, and lysates were prepared for fluorescent immunoblotting. Merged images are shown for blots using antibodies raised in different species. The very left lane was loaded with protein markers that emit near-infrared fluorescence. G. THZ531-induced MYC expression relies on de novo protein synthesis. HCC1954 cells were treated with cycloheximide (6.25 μg/ml) and THZ531 (200 nM), either individually or in combination. Cells were harvested in 3 hours for immunoblotting. H. Tumors with low expression of CDK12 exhibit activation of a MYC signature. (Right) The consolidated MYC signature was developed by combining all 12 gene sets from MSigDB ( http://www.gsea-msigdb.org/ ) and identifying genes whose expression positively correlates with MYC across the 1305 cancer cell lines in the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE, Pearson correlation r > 0.2). (Left) Expression of the 235 genes was then evaluated in CDK12, CDK7, CDK9-low ovarian tumors in comparison to their high expression counterparts. The top dot plot displays the differential expression of all 235 genes, while the bottom plot shows genes with significant differential expression (q < 0.1; n = 106, 60, 6 for the CDK12, CDK7, CDK9 groups, respectively). *p<0.05, ****p<0.0001 (Mann-Whitney test).
Article Snippet: The following primary antibodies were purchased and used for fluorescence immunoblotting: RNA polymerase II subunit B1 (phospho CTD Ser-2) Antibody, clone 3E10 (EMD Millipore, #04-1571); Phospho-Rpb1 CTD (Ser2) (E1Z3G) Rabbit mAb (Cell Signaling Technology, #13499); Phospho RNA Polymerase II (S2) Antibody, (Bethyl Laboratories, A300-654A); RNA polymerase II subunit B1 (phospho-CTD Ser-5) Antibody, clone 3E8 (EMD Millipore, #04-1572); Phospho-Rpb1 CTD (Ser5) (D9N5I) Rabbit mAb (Cell Signaling Technology, #13523) RNA polymerase II subunit B1 (phospho-CTD Ser-7) Antibody, clone 4E12 (EMD Millipore, #04-1570); RNA Polymerase II Antibody (Bethyl Laboratories, A300-653A); RNA Polymerase II RPB1, clone 8WG16 (BioLegend, #664906); Rpb1 NTD (D8L4Y) Rabbit mAb (Cell Signaling Technology, #14958); c-Myc (clone Y69) Rabbit mAb (Abcam, #ab32072); c-Myc (D84C12) Rabbit mAb (Cell Signaling Technology, #5605); anti-CDK12 (Cell Signaling Technology, #11973); anti-CDK12 (proteintech, #26816-1-AP); anti-CDK12, clone 45F7-H2 (BIO-RAD, #VMA00874); anti-CDK13, clone 46B7-G7 (BIO-RAD, #VMA00875); CDK7 Recombinant Monoclonal Antibody (BL-80-5D4) (Bethyl, #A700-006); CDK7 (MO1) Mouse mAb (Cell Signaling Technology, #2916); CDK8 (D6M3J) Rabbit mAb (Cell Signaling Technology, #17395); CDK9 (C12F7) Rabbit mAb (Cell Signaling Technology, #2316); Anti-CDK19 (Sigma-Aldrich, #HPA007053); JunB Rabbit mAb, clone ARC0268 (ABclonal, #A4848); c-Jun (60A8) Rabbit mAb (Cell Signaling Technology, #9165); c-Fos (9F6) Rabbit mAb (Cell Signaling Technology, #2250); Anti-c-ErbB2/c-Neu (Ab-3) Mouse mAb (3B5) (EMD Millipore, #OP15); anti-PARP (Cell Signaling Technology, #9542); anti-β-Actin, clone AC-15 (Sigma, A5441); anti-Vinculin (Sigma, V9131); anti-β-Tubulin (BioLegend, # 903401).
Techniques: RNA Sequencing, Inhibition, RNA Extraction, Reverse Transcription, Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Expressing, Western Blot, Control, Fluorescence, Activation Assay, Comparison, Quantitative Proteomics, MANN-WHITNEY