The Role of JNK kinase in apoptosis and its relationship with cancer / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

JNK is a key protein in the third stages of MAPK pro-tein kinase activation cascade,and is located in the key node of multiple signal transduction network.It plays a pivotal role in the cell proliferation,differentiation,apoptosis and some other important cell biological processes.Therefore it acts as an im-portant factor in regulating the development of some major human diseases,such as cancer.But the functional diversity and com-plexity of three JNK isoforms in different cell types make it diffi- cult to develop anticancer drugs with JNK as a treatment target. In this review,we summarized the apoptotic signaling network of JNK and the regulation functions of JNK in cell apoptosis and proliferation.We also discuss the different functions of 3 JNK isoforms in human cancer.