C-Kit signal transduction and involvement in cancer

Summary, in English

Receptor tyrosine kinases, such as c-Kit, are proteins whose function it is to transduce signals from the environment into the cell leading to complex behaviors such as proliferation, migration, survival and differentiation. Many of these behaviors are deregulated in cancer, which is characterized by uncontrolled proliferation, insensitivity

towards death stimuli, migration of tumor cells away from the primary tumor site and in some cases also block of

cellular differentiation leaving the cell in an immature proliferative state. To be able to target these processes it is vital to have a detailed understanding of the receptor function and the downstream pathways activated. In this article we will review the mechanisms by which c-Kit induces signal transduction as well as describing tumors in

which c-Kit function is perturbed.

• Author: Johan Lennartsson; Olexandr Voytyuk; Elke Heiss; Christina Sundberg; Jianmin Sun; Lars Rönnstrand
• Department/s: Department of Translational Medicine
• Publishing year: 2005
• Language: English
• Pages: 5-28
• Publication/Series: Cancer Therapy
• Volume: 3
• Links: http://www.cancer-therapy.org/volume3_2005/02_Lennartsson/02._Lennartsson,_5-28.pdf
• Document type: Journal article review
• Publisher: International Society of Cancer Therapy
• Topic: Medicinal Chemistry
• Keywords: Fertility; Phospholipase C-g; PI3-kinase; Ras/Erk pathway; degradation; Transcription factors; Adapter proteins; tyrosine kinases; c-Kit signal transduction; Dimerization; Internalization; cancer; Protein tyrosine phosphatases; Hematopoiesis; Gastrointestinal tract; Nervous system; Mastocytosis; Melanoma; Small-cell lung cancer; JAK/STAT pathway; homeostasis; Pigmentation
• Status: Published