Staurosporine

Staurosporine is a potent inhibitor of phospholipid/calcium-dependent protein kinase. It also inhibits the upregulation of VEGF expression in tumor cells. It partially reverses MDR, sensitizing cells with MDR phenotype to cytotoxic agents. It inhibits Pgp phosphorylation. It is also a broad spectrum inhibitor of serine/threonine kinases. Staurosporine has several effects on cell function, including interruption of cell-cell contacts, decreasing focal contact size, inducing epithelial to mesenchyme transition, and promoting cell differentiation. Staurosporine has the ability to influence lineage choice during pluripotent cells differentiation. The addition of staurosporine to differentiating mouse EPL resulted in preferential formation of mesendoderm and mesoderm populations, and inhibited the formation of neurectoderm. Addition of staurosporine to human embryonic stem cells (hESC) similarly induced primitive streak marker gene expression. Staurosporine induced the expression of mesendoderm markers in the absence of known inducers of formation, such as serum and BMP-4.