title: The role of pseudokinases in cancer.
abstract: Kinases play a critical role in regulating many cellular functions including development, differentiation and proliferation. To date, over 518 proteins with kinase activity, comprising ~2-3% of total cellular proteins, have been identified from within the human kinome. Interestingly, approximately 10% of kinases are categorised as pseudokinases since they lack one or more conserved catalytic residues within their kinase domain and were originally thought to have no enzymatic activity. Recently, there has been strong evidence to suggest that some pseudokinsases can not only function as scaffold proteins, but may also possess kinase activity leading to modulation of cell signalling pathways. Altered activity of these pseudokinases can result in impaired cellular function, particularly in malignancies. In this review we are discussing recent evidence that apart from a scaffolding role, pseudokinases also orchestrate cellular processes as active kinases per se in signalling pathways of malignant cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer and Surgery, Imperial College, Hammersmith Hospital Campus, Du Cane Road, London, W12 ONN, UK.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Photiou
authors.forename: Arnhild
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grothey
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stebbing
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giamas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D011494:Protein Kinases