title: Emerging roles of DNA-PK besides DNA repair.
abstract: The DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) is a DNA-activated serine/threonine protein kinase, and abundantly expressed in almost all mammalian cells. The roles of DNA-PK in DNA-damage repair pathways, including non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) repair and homologous recombinant (HR) repair, have been studied intensively. However, the high levels of DNA-PK in human cells are somewhat paradoxical in that it does not impart any increased ability to repair DNA damage. If DNA-PK essentially exceeds the demand for DNA damage repair, why do human cells universally express such high levels of this huge complex? DNA-PK has been recently reported to be involved in metabolic gene regulation in response to feeding/insulin stimulation; our studies have also suggested a role of DNA-PK in the regulation of the homeostasis of cell proliferation. These novel findings expand our horizons about the importance of DNA-PK.
authors.affiliation: Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xianming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fei
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mi
mesh_terms: D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004260:DNA Repair; D051747:DNA-Activated Protein Kinase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D051747:DNA-Activated Protein Kinase