We recently identified 4-acetyl-3-{4-[2-(tetrahydropyran-4-yloxy)ethoxy]phenoxy}benzamide (hereafter referred to as KY-065) as a novel potential CDK8 inhibitor, which inhibits the stemness and tumorigenicity of glioma stem cells, thus exerting anti-glioblastoma potential in vivo (Fukasawa et al., 2021). Here, CDK8 is linked to central nervous system cancer.