LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Hyperactivation of p21-Activated Kinases in Human Cancer and Therapeutic Sensitivity

Photo by paipai90 from unsplash

Over the last three decades, p21-activated kinases (PAKs) have emerged as prominent intracellular nodular signaling molecules in cancer cells with a spectrum of cancer-promoting functions ranging from cell survival to… Click to show full abstract

Over the last three decades, p21-activated kinases (PAKs) have emerged as prominent intracellular nodular signaling molecules in cancer cells with a spectrum of cancer-promoting functions ranging from cell survival to anchorage-independent growth to cellular invasiveness. As PAK family members are widely overexpressed and/or hyperactivated in a variety of human tumors, over the years PAKs have also emerged as therapeutic targets, resulting in the development of clinically relevant PAK inhibitors. Over the last two decades, this has been a promising area of active investigation for several academic and pharmaceutical groups. Similar to other kinases, blocking the activity of one PAK family member leads to compensatory activity on the part of other family members. Because PAKs are also activated by stress-causing anticancer drugs, PAKs are components in the rewiring of survival pathways in the action of several therapeutic agents; in turn, they contribute to the development of therapeutic resistance. This, in turn, creates an opportunity to co-target the PAKs to achieve a superior anticancer cellular effect. Here we discuss the role of PAKs and their effector pathways in the modulation of cellular susceptibility to cancer therapeutic agents and therapeutic resistance.

Keywords: activated kinases; cancer therapeutic; kinases human; p21 activated; hyperactivation p21; cancer

Journal Title: Biomedicines
Year Published: 2023

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.