title: Mutational analysis of the kinase domain of MYLK2 gene in common human cancers.
abstract: Genetic alterations of the genes encoding protein kinases have been implicated in the development of human cancers. Myosin light chain kinase 2, skeletal muscle (MYLK2) encodes a calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine kinase. In a recent study, MYLK2 gene was somatically mutated in colorectal carcinomas. The aim of this study was to explore the possibility that other common human carcinomas besides colorectal carcinomas harbored MYLK2 mutations in the kinase domain. We analyzed exons 6 and 7 eccoding the kinase domain of MYLK2 for somatic mutations in 60 gastric, 104 colorectal, 79 non-small cell lung, and 54 breast cancers using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). We found one MYLK2 mutation in lung adenocarcinomas, but not in other cancers. The MYLK2 mutation detected was a missense mutation that would substitute an amino acid (E374D) However, there was no somatic mutation of the MYLK2 gene. These data suggest that the kinase domain of MYLK2 is rarely mutated in common human carcinomas and that it does not play a dominant role in cancer pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Socho-gu, Seoul 137-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young Hwa
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Soung
authors.forename: Jong Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Su Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Suk Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Won Sang
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jung Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Nam Jin
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Sug Hyung
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009219:Myosin-Light-Chain Kinase / Q000235:genetics*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; C499378:MYLK protein, human; D009219:Myosin-Light-Chain Kinase