The Journal of biological chemistry
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Mirk/Dyrk1B is a serine/threonine kinase widely expressed in colon cancers. Serum starvation induced HD6 colon carcinoma cells to enter a quiescent G0 state, characterized by a 2N DNA content and a lower RNA content than G1 cells. Compared with cycling cells, quiescent cells exhibited 16-fold higher levels of the retinoblastoma protein p130/Rb2, which sequesters E2F4 to block entry into G1, 10-fold elevated levels of the CDK inhibitor p27kip1, and 10-fold higher levels of Mirk. ⋯ The kinase activity of Mirk was increased by the chemotherapeutic drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Treatment of p53 mutant colon cancer cells with 5-FU led to an elongated G1 in a Mirk-dependent manner, as G1 was shortened by ectopic overexpression of cyclin D1 mutated at the Mirk phosphorylation site (T288A), but not by wild-type cyclin D1. Mirk, through regulating cyclin D turnover, and the CDK inhibitor p27, as shown by depletion studies, functioned independently and additively to regulate the exit of tumor cells from quiescence.