Impact of protein and drug-candidate interactions on oncokinase conformations

In a recent study, published in eLife, the ONCOkinase lab from the UIBK/TKFI investigated dynamic conformational states of protein kinases which are linked to diseases such as cancer. Since these proteins play a central role in signal transmission, deregulation of certain kinases is closely related to the onset and progression of cancer. For this publication researchers of the Universities of Innsbruck (UIBK, MUI), of the TKFI, and of The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) London, applied a patented and cell-based reporter system to specifically analyze onco-kinases and tumor-suppressor kinases. They investigated how drug (candidate) and protein-protein interactions influence the functions of these enzymes. Their experiments focused on analyzing selected (pseudo)kinases that are, or have the potential to become, future targets for the treatment of melanoma and/or breast cancer. This work represents fundamental basic research that has provided new insights into the cellular mechanisms of cancer-associated kinases and their relevance to drug-candidate efficacy alterations.