Tumour promoting and suppressing roles of the atypical MAP kinase signalling pathway ERK3/4-MK5

Authors

Sergiy Kostenko Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø NO-9037, Norway
Gianina Dumitriu Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø NO-9037, Norway
Ugo Moens Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø NO-9037, Norway

DOI:

Keywords:

PRAK, RAS, c-MYC, IGB2PB, Angiogenesis, Senescence, HSP27, FOXO3a

Abstract

Perturbed action of signal transduction pathways, including the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathways, is one of the hallmarks of many cancers. While the implication of the typical MAP kinase pathways ERK1/2-MEK1/2, p38^MAPK and JNK is well established, recent findings illustrate that the atypical MAP kinase ERK3/4-MK5 may also be involved in tumorigenic processes. Remarkably, the ERK3/4-MK5 pathway seems to possess anti-oncogenic as well as pro-oncogenic properties in cell culture and aninal models. This review summarizes the mutations in the genes encoding ERK3, ERK4 and MK5 that have been detected in different cancers, reports aberrant expression levels of these proteins in human tumours, and discusses the mechanisms by which this pathway can induce senescence, stimulate angiogenesis and invasiveness.

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Published

2012-07-16

Issue

Vol. 7 (2012)

Section

Reviews

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