Background
Cyclin E, one of the activators of the cyclin-dependent kinase Cdk2, is critical for the initiation of DNA replication and other S-phase functions. The proper timing and amplitude of cyclin E expression seem to be important, because elevated levels of cyclin E have been associated with a variety of malignancies and constitutive expression of cyclin E leads to genomic instability. Phosphorylated cyclin E depends on the novel human gene, hCdc4, that was found to be mutated in a cell line derived from breast cancer that expressed extremely high levels of cyclin E. |
