Kank proteins: structure, functions and diseases

• Published in: Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS Vol. 66; no. 16; pp. 2651 - 2659
• Main Authors: Kakinuma, N, Zhu, Y, Wang, Y, Roy, B. C, Kiyama, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel Basel : SP Birkhäuser Verlag Basel 01.08.2009; SP Birkhäuser Verlag Basel; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 1-Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; Actin; Actins - metabolism; Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; AKT protein; Alternative Splicing; Amino Acid Motifs - physiology; Ankyrin Repeat; Ankyrins; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer; Carcinoma - genetics; Carcinoma - metabolism; Carcinoma - pathology; Cell Biology; cell movement; Cloning; Cytoskeletal Proteins; Developmental disabilities; Homology; Kidney diseases; Life Sciences; Models, Biological; molecular cloning; Molecular structure; Multigene Family; Mutation; N-Terminus; neoplasm cells; Neoplasms - genetics; Neoplasms - metabolism; Neoplasms - pathology; Neuromodulation; polymerization; Proteins; Renal cell carcinoma; Review; Signal Transduction; Tumor suppressor genes; Tumor Suppressor Proteins - chemistry; Tumor Suppressor Proteins - metabolism; Tumor Suppressor Proteins - physiology; Coiled-coil motif; Signal transduction; Renal cell carcinoma; Actin stress fiber; Nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling; Ankyrin-repeat; Tumor suppressor gene
• ISSN: 1420-682X; 1420-9071; 1420-9071
• DOI: 10.1007/s00018-009-0038-y

The Kank family of proteins, Kank1-Kank4, are characterized by their unique structure, coiled-coil motifs in the N-terminal region, and ankyrin-repeats in the C-terminal region, with an additional motif, the KN motif, at the N-terminus. Kank1 was obtained by positional cloning of a tumor suppressor gene in renal cell carcinoma, while the other members were found by homology search. The family is involved in the regulation of actin polymerization and cell motility through signaling pathways containing PI3K/Akt and/or unidentified modulators/effectors. Their relationship to diseases such as cancer, and to neuronal and developmental disorders, will be an important subject of future study.