TY - JOUR
T1 - Targeting group II PAKs in cancer and metastasis
AU - Eswaran, Jeyanthy
AU - Soundararajan, Meera
AU - Knapp, Stefan
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The p21 activated kinases (PAKs) play an essential role in cell signaling and control a variety of cellular functions including cell motility, survival, angiogenesis and mitosis. PAKs are important regulators in growth factor signaling, cytoskeletal reorganization and growth factor-mediated cell migration. Overexpression of PAKs has been detected in many cancers and linked to increased migration potential, anchorage independent growth and metastasis. Six isoforms of PAKs are expressed in human and based on their regulatory properties they have been classified into group I (PAK1–3) and group II (PAK4–6). Besides the well studied group I family, members of the group II PAKs also emerged as interesting targets for the development of new inhibitors for cancer therapy. The availability of high resolution crystal structures for all group II PAKs and their fundamentally different regulatory properties when compared with group I enzymes has opened new opportunities for rational drug designing strategies. In this review, we summarize the results of recent advances of the function of group II PAKs in tumorigenesis and metastasis as well as opportunities for exploring the unique catalytic domain dynamics of this protein family for the design of group II PAK specific inhibitors.
AB - The p21 activated kinases (PAKs) play an essential role in cell signaling and control a variety of cellular functions including cell motility, survival, angiogenesis and mitosis. PAKs are important regulators in growth factor signaling, cytoskeletal reorganization and growth factor-mediated cell migration. Overexpression of PAKs has been detected in many cancers and linked to increased migration potential, anchorage independent growth and metastasis. Six isoforms of PAKs are expressed in human and based on their regulatory properties they have been classified into group I (PAK1–3) and group II (PAK4–6). Besides the well studied group I family, members of the group II PAKs also emerged as interesting targets for the development of new inhibitors for cancer therapy. The availability of high resolution crystal structures for all group II PAKs and their fundamentally different regulatory properties when compared with group I enzymes has opened new opportunities for rational drug designing strategies. In this review, we summarize the results of recent advances of the function of group II PAKs in tumorigenesis and metastasis as well as opportunities for exploring the unique catalytic domain dynamics of this protein family for the design of group II PAK specific inhibitors.
KW - transformation
KW - drug designing
KW - specificity
KW - kinase inhibitors
U2 - 10.1007/s10555-008-9181-4
DO - 10.1007/s10555-008-9181-4
M3 - Article
VL - 28
SP - 209
EP - 217
JO - Cancer and Metastasis Reviews
JF - Cancer and Metastasis Reviews
SN - 0167-7659
IS - 1-2
ER -
