Cdc7 as a Potential New Target for Cancer Therapy

Cdc7 kinase plays crucial roles in firing of replication origins and in proper maintenance of replication forks, which are the sites of DNA replication. The inactivation of Cdc7 causes destabilization of replication forks leading to acute genomic instability and induces massive cell death preferentially in cancer cells. Thus, Cdc7 kinase may be a promising novel target for cancer therapy. Indeed, the first classes of Cdc7 inhibitors have been reported and have been shown to be effective in delaying tumor growth in animal models.