Focal adhesion kinases: interest in immunoendocrinology, developmental biology, and cancer

The research field on focal adhesion-related kinases started a decade ago, but the term focal adhesion was introduced for the first time nearly 20 yr before. Since its identification, many studies have enlightened the role of the first intermediate of focal adhesion-related signals in a large number of biologic and physiologic processes. In this review, we try to integrate the most recent data about the known focal adhesion-related kinases, and we focus on three topics in which they deserve great interest: neuroendocrine-immune interactions, developmental biology, and proliferative diseases.