Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2025

Characterize Disease-related Mutants of RAF Family Kinases by Using a Set of Practical and Feasible Methods
07:49

Characterize Disease-related Mutants of RAF Family Kinases by Using a Set of Practical and Feasible Methods

Published on: July 17, 2019

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The NIMA-related kinase family and cancer

Haotian Li1,2, Junhan Li1, Yue Zhang1

  • 1Department of Endocrinology and Metabology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong First Medical University, Shandong Key Laboratory of Rheumatic Disease and Translational Medicine, Shandong Institute of Nephrology, Jinan, China.

Frontiers in Oncology
|April 11, 2025
PubMed

Insights

NIMA-related kinases (NEKs) are crucial for cell division and cancer progression. Targeting NEKs offers a promising new strategy to inhibit cancer growth and metastasis.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Cancer involves uncontrolled cell division and metastasis.
  • Mitotic kinases are key drivers of cancer and therapeutic targets.
  • Many human kinome members, including NIMA-related kinases (NEKs), remain understudied in cancer.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically review the expression and regulation of NEK family members in various cancers.
  • To highlight the potential of NEKs as therapeutic targets for cancer treatment.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on NEK expression and function in cancer.
  • Systematic summary of regulatory mechanisms of NEKs in malignant systems.

Main Results:

  • NEK family members are implicated in the initiation and progression of human malignancies.
  • NEKs are crucial regulators of mitotic processes.
  • Expression and regulatory mechanisms of NEKs vary across different cancer types.

Conclusions:

  • Targeting NEKs presents a promising therapeutic strategy for inhibiting cancer growth.
  • Targeting NEKs may also be effective in preventing cancer metastasis.
  • Further research into NEKs could lead to novel anti-cancer therapies.
Keywords:
NEK familycancermetastasismitosisproliferationtherapeutic target

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