title: Pim kinase isoforms: devils defending cancer cells from therapeutic and immune attacks.
abstract: Pim kinases are being implicated in oncogenic process in various human cancers. Pim kinases primarily deal with three broad categories of functions such as tumorigenesis, protecting cells from apoptotic signals and evading immune attacks. Here in this review, we discuss the regulation of Pim kinases and their expression, and how these kinases defend cancer cells from therapeutic and immune attacks with special emphasis on how Pim kinases maintain their own expression during apoptosis and cellular transformation, defend mitochondria during apoptosis, defend cancer cells from immune attack, defend cancer cells from therapeutic attack, choose localization, self-regulation, activation of oncogenic transcription, metabolic regulation and so on. In addition, we also discuss how Pim kinases contribute to tumorigenesis by regulating cellular transformation and glycolysis to reinforce the importance of Pim kinases in cancer and cancer stem cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77054, USA. goodwinjinesh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Goodwin G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Jinesh
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77054, USA.
authors.forename: Sharada
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mokkapati
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77054, USA.
authors.forename: Keyi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77054, USA.
authors.forename: Edwin E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Morales
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017209:Apoptosis; D006801:Humans; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D051573:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-pim-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007527:Isoenzymes; D051573:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-pim-1; C406031:proto-oncogene proteins pim
keywords: Blebbishields; CXCR4; Mitochondria; P-glycoprotein; ROS; VEGF