The Role of p90rsk in Breast Cancer Cell Survival from Apoptosis
Abstract
Evidence suggests that sensitivity to chemotherapy is largely due to a functional apoptotic pathway. Thus, a better understanding of the signal transduction pathways that lead to rescue from apoptosis might lead to improved modalities of treatment for unresponsive cancer types. The focus of this proposal was to elucidate the role of p9Orsk in antagonizing apoptosis in breast cancer cells. P9Orsk is a serine-threonine protein kinase in the Ras-Raf-ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase, also known as mitogen- activated protein kinase or MAP kinase) cascade that lies immediately downstream of ERK. Although the Ras pathway and ERKs have been the focus of much research in the cancer field, less is known about the role of p9Orsk. We hypothesize that p9Orsk may be particularly relevant to breast cancer cell survival because evidence suggests it can not only directly phosphorylate and activate the estrogen receptor but also has the potential to antagonize apoptosis through neutralizing BAD, a proapoptotic member of he Bcl family of proteins. In addition, new evidence suggests to its activation by PDKl (3-phosphatidyl inositol 3, 4, 5 phosphate dependent protein kinase) in addition to ERKl/2 activation. We proposed to study p9Orsk since it may provide a new target in breast cancer therapy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA425646
Entities
People
- Lucy Y. Ghoda
Organizations
- University of Colorado Health