Olomoucine is a purine that acts as a competitive inhibitor of a variety of cell cycle regulating proteins with high specificity, which leads to the blockage of some cell cycle steps. The compound inhibits: Cdc2/cyclin B, Cdk2/cyclin A and Cdk2/cyclin E kinases, the brain Cdk5/p35 kinase and the ERK1/MAP-kinase. Olomoucine does not significantly inhibit Cdk4/cyclin D1 and Cdk6/cyclin D3 kinases. The compound can induce cell arrest at G1/S and the G2/M, due to its effect on Ckd2 and Cdcd2. Olomoucine also behaves as a competitive inhibitor for ATP and as a non-competitive inhibitor for histone H1 in terms of being Cdk substrates.
