MELK的功能及其在肿瘤研究中的进展

Biological Functions of MELK and its Research Development in Carcinoma

母体胚胎亮氨酸拉链激酶(MELK)是蔗糖非发酵1/AMP活化蛋白激酶(Snf1/AMPK)家族中一个独特成员,是一种周期依赖性激酶。与家族其他成员不同,MELK并不参与代谢应激状态下细胞的生存调控,而更多参与细胞周期、细胞增殖、肿瘤生成和细胞凋亡等过程。MELK在人体多种肿瘤中表达升高,与肿瘤的预后密切相关。MELK在肿瘤干细胞中被异常激活,使肿瘤细胞获得生长、侵袭、迁移等能力,因此,MELK可以作为肿瘤治疗的重要靶点。我们就MELK基因的生物学功能、作用机制及其在肿瘤研究中的进展做简要综述。

Maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase（MELK） is a cell cycle-dependent protein kinase, which be- longs to the Snfl/AMPK family of serine-threonine kinases. Unlike most members of this family only functioning in cell survival under metabolically environmental stress, MELK participates in diverse processes, including cell cy- cle, cell proliferation, apoptosis, RNA processing, and embryonic development. The overexpression of MELK in vari- ous cancers results in poor patient survival. MELK is aberrantly reactivated in cancer stem cells, thereby provid- ing a growth advantage for neoplastic ceils and derived tumor progression, so MELK is a potential therapeutic tar- get in cancers. This paper will summarize the current knowledge of functions and mechanisms of MELK and its re- search development in carcinoma.