CDK6 (PLSTIRE) and CDK4 (PSK-J3) are a distinct subset of the cyclin-dependent kinases that associate with cyclin D1.

Deregulated expression of cyclin D1 is a feature of several neoplastic and proliferative disorders, but its normal role in the cell cycle remains unclear. Here we show that in a squamous carcinoma cell line with 11-fold amplification of the CCND1 gene, cyclin D1 associates specifically with p33cdk4 (PSK-J3) and p38cdk6 (PLSTIRE), two closely related members of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) family. In these tumour cells, there is little evidence for an association between cyclin D1 and other CDKs, but in diploid human fibroblasts both CDK2 and CDK5 can be co-precipitated with cyclin D1, as well as CDK4. The data suggest that D-type cyclins participate in multiple interactions with CDKs but that the nature or stoichiometry of these associations may differ in different types of cell.