Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41369365›Full record

ReviewCells2025

The Duality of Cdk5: A Master Regulator in Neurodevelopment and a Hijacked Oncogene in Cancer.

Yoshiaki V Nishimura, Takeshi Kawauchi

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Cells, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Yoshiaki V NishimuraDivision of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 1-15-1 Fukumuro, Miyagino-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 983-8536, Japan.
Takeshi KawauchiDepartment of Adaptive and Maladaptive Responses in Health and Disease, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Medical Innovation Center (3F), 53 Kawahara-cho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-8650-4474

Funding

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science JP25K02271Meiji Holdings Co., Ltd. none
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is an atypical serine/threonine kinase distinct from classical cell cycle regulators. Its activity is highest in the nervous system and essential for development, but its functions in other tissues, particularly in cancer, are increasingly being elucidated. This review explores the functional duality of Cdk5 by comparing its constructive role in neurodevelopment with its repurposed oncogenic function in cancer. In neurodevelopment, Cdk5 orchestrates nearly every stage of brain construction, including neuronal differentiation, migration, and synaptic plasticity. However, in many cancers, this neurodevelopmental toolkit is repurposed, and aberrantly activated Cdk5 promotes proliferation, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance in diverse solid tumors. Cdk5 also actively shapes the tumor microenvironment by promoting angiogenesis and modulating immunity. Notably, this oncogenic function is not universal, as Cdk5 exhibits its duality even within the context of cancer; it acts as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer upon nuclear localization. Taken together, these lines of evidence underscore that Cdk5 is a context-dependent kinase whose output is determined by upstream regulation, subcellular localization, and the cellular environment. This review discusses the molecular basis of its dual role and highlights both the potential and complexity of Cdk5 as a therapeutic target in oncology.

Indexed as

Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5NeoplasmsOncogenesAnimalsHumansTumor MicroenvironmentCDK5 protein, humanCyclin-Dependent Kinase 5cancerCdk5 (cyclin-dependent kinase 5)context-dependent kinaseneurodevelopmentneuronal migration

Identifiers

PMID41369365
PMCPMC12691403

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.