Protooncogene-encoded protein kinases in interleukin-2 signal transduction.

Protooncogenes are the normal forms of cellular genes that when altered in their expression or coding sequences can contribute to neoplastic transformation. As these genes often are important for normal cellular growth control, we explored the possibility that protein kinases encoded by particular protooncogenes could participate in signal transduction pathways regulated by the T cell growth factor, interleukin-2 (IL-2). In this review we summarize our findings to date regarding Raf-1, a serine/threonine-specific kinase that becomes phosphorylated on tyrosine residues and enzymatically activated in response to IL-2 stimulation. In addition, we describe our investigations of Lck and Lyn, two closely related protein tyrosine kinases of the src gene family that physically associate with the IL-2 receptor complex and whose activities are regulated by IL-2 in at least some T cells and B cells, respectively.