Mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (also known as JNK1) is a ubiquitousenzyme that in humans is encoded by theMAPK8gene.[5][6]
The protein encoded by this gene is a member of theMAP kinase andJNK family. MAP kinases act as an integration point for multiple biochemical signals, and are involved in a wide variety of cellular processes such asproliferation,differentiation, transcription regulation and development. This kinase is activated by various cell stimuli, and targets specifictranscription factors, and thus mediates immediate-earlygene expression in response to cell stimuli. The activation of this kinase bytumor-necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is found to be required for TNF-alpha-inducedapoptosis. Thiskinase is also involved in UV radiation-induced apoptosis, which is thought to be related to thecytochrome c-mediated cell death pathway. Studies of the mouse counterpart of this gene suggested that this kinase play a key role inT cell proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. Fouralternately spliced transcript variants encoding distinctisoforms have been reported.[7] MAPK8 contains multiple amino acid sites that are phosphorylated and ubiquitinated.[8]
MAPK8 has been shown tointeract with:
This article incorporates text from theUnited States National Library of Medicine, which is in thepublic domain.