Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Tecidual, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo 13083-862, Brazil.
Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo 13083-871, Brazil.
Molecules. 2020 Apr 13;25(8):1778. doi: 10.3390/molecules25081778.
In previous years, several kinases, such as phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK), have been linked to important human diseases, although some kinase families remain neglected in terms of research, hiding their relevance to therapeutic approaches. Here, a review regarding the NEK family is presented, shedding light on important information related to NEKs and human diseases. NEKs are a large group of homologous kinases with related functions and structures that participate in several cellular processes such as the cell cycle, cell division, cilia formation, and the DNA damage response. The review of the literature points to the pivotal participation of NEKs in important human diseases, like different types of cancer, diabetes, ciliopathies and central nervous system related and inflammatory-related diseases. The different known regulatory molecular mechanisms specific to each NEK are also presented, relating to their involvement in different diseases. In addition, important information about NEKs remains to be elucidated and is highlighted in this review, showing the need for other studies and research regarding this kinase family. Therefore, the NEK family represents an important group of kinases with potential applications in the therapy of human diseases.
在过去的几年中，已经有几种激酶，如磷酸肌醇 3-激酶（PI3K）、雷帕霉素靶蛋白（mTOR）和细胞外信号调节激酶（ERK），与重要的人类疾病有关，尽管一些激酶家族在研究方面仍然被忽视，隐藏了它们与治疗方法的相关性。本文对 NEK 家族进行了综述，阐明了与 NEKs 和人类疾病相关的重要信息。NEKs 是一个具有相关功能和结构的大型同源激酶家族，参与细胞周期、细胞分裂、纤毛形成和 DNA 损伤反应等多种细胞过程。文献综述表明，NEKs 参与了多种重要的人类疾病，如不同类型的癌症、糖尿病、纤毛病和中枢神经系统相关疾病和炎症相关疾病。还介绍了每种 NEK 特有的不同已知调节分子机制，与它们在不同疾病中的参与有关。此外，关于 NEKs 的重要信息仍有待阐明，并在本文中得到强调，表明需要对该激酶家族进行其他研究和探索。因此，NEK 家族是一组具有治疗人类疾病潜力的重要激酶。
