Bradham Cynthia, McClay David R
DCMB Group, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Cell Cycle. 2006 Apr;5(8):824-8. doi: 10.4161/cc.5.8.2685. Epub 2006 Apr 17.
p38 is a MAPK that has been shown to induce a wide variety of biological effects in cell culture in response to a wide range of stimuli. These effects are dependent not only on the stimuli, but also on the cellular context, resulting in a bewildering array of possibilities. For example, p38 was shown to induce apoptosis in some cells, but prevent apoptosis in others. Similarly opposed effects had been observed with respect to cell cycle regulation. The role of p38 in inflammatory disease has been appreciated from the beginning, since it was initially identified as an cytokine inducer. More recently, p38 function has been evaluated in vivo, and through these studies p38 has emerged as an important regulator of both embryonic development and cancer progression. This review will focus on these in vivo studies in an effort to provide perspective on p38 biologically and as a pharmacological target.
p38是一种丝裂原活化蛋白激酶（MAPK），已证明它在细胞培养中能响应多种刺激而诱导多种生物学效应。这些效应不仅取决于刺激因素，还取决于细胞环境，从而产生一系列令人困惑的可能性。例如，p38在某些细胞中可诱导凋亡，但在其他细胞中却能阻止凋亡。在细胞周期调控方面也观察到了类似的相反作用。p38在炎症性疾病中的作用从一开始就受到关注，因为它最初被鉴定为一种细胞因子诱导剂。最近，p38的功能已在体内进行了评估，通过这些研究，p38已成为胚胎发育和癌症进展的重要调节因子。本综述将聚焦于这些体内研究，以期从生物学角度和作为药理学靶点的角度对p38提供见解。
