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PAK signaling in oncogenesis

Oncogene volume 28, pages 2545–2555 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The p21-activated kinase (PAK) family of serine/threonine kinases is important in physiological processes including motility, survival, mitosis, transcription and translation. PAKs are evolutionally conserved and widely expressed in a variety of tissues and are often overexpressed in multiple cancer types. Depending on structural and functional similarities, the six members of PAK family are divided into two groups with three members in each group. Group I PAKs are activated by extracellular signals through GTPase-dependent and GTPase-independent mechanisms. In contrast, group II PAKs are constitutively active. Over the years, accumulating data from tissue culture models and human tumors has increased our understanding about the biology of PAK family members. In this review, we have summarized the complex regulation of PAK and its downstream diverse myriads of effectors, which in turn are responsible for the biological effects of PAK family of kinases in cancer cells.

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Acknowledgements

Work in Professor Kumar's laboratory is supported by NIH grants CA90970 and CA098823.

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  1. P R Molli

    Present address: 3Current address: Department of Biochemistry, CABM, UMDNJ, NJ, USA,

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  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA

    P R Molli, D Q Li, S K Rayala & R Kumar

  2. Pfizer Global Research and Development, La Jolla Laboratories, San Diego, CA, USA

    B W Murray

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Molli, P., Li, D., Murray, B. et al. PAK signaling in oncogenesis. Oncogene 28, 2545–2555 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2009.119

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