Transcriptomic analysis of the in vivo effects of CDK8/19 inactivation in 22Rv1 xenografts growing in intact and castrated NSG mice

RNA-Seq analysis was carried out to investigate the effects of CDK8/19 inactivation in the tumors formed in intact and castrated NSG mice by different 22Rv1 derivatives, with or without SNX631 treatment. The 22Rv1 derivatives were generated as following: Parental 22Rv1 (Rv1-WT) were transduced with a lentivirus expressing luciferase, yielding the derivative Rv1-Luc. 22Rv1 cells with a double knockout of CDK8 and CDK19 (Rv1-dKO) were made via CRISPR/Cas9. Rv1-dKO cells were further transduced with lentiviruses to generate Rv1-dKO re-expression derivatives that express wild-type CDK19 (Rv1-dKO-CDK19) and the kinase-inactive D173A mutant (Rv1-dKO-CDK19M). SNX631 is a selective and orally bioavalable CDK8/19 inhibtor.