Caught in the activation

摘要

The protein functions that regulate cell behaviour are themselves tightly regulated by many different inputs. One of these is phosphoryla-tion, the process in which a phosphate group from an ATP molecule is attached to a protein by a protein kinase enzyme. There is considerable interest in identifying small molecules that can modulate protein kinase activity, both as research tools and as potential human therapeutic agents. Indeed, eleven kinase inhibitors are already used as drugs for treating cancer, and several more are in clinical trials for the treatment of immune and inflammatory diseases.