Overview:

MST4 belongs to a family of proteins that share similarity with a budding yeast serine/threonine kinase, sterile-20 (Ste20), and have a role in mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling during cytoskeletal rearrangement, morphogenesis, apoptosis, and other diverse cellular events (1). Expression of MST4 has been shown to correlate with tumorigenicity and inversely with androgen receptor status in a number of human prostate cancer cell lines. Overexpression of MST4 induced anchorage-independent growth and increased in vitro proliferation of these prostate cancer cell lines (2).

Gene Aliases:

MASK; RP6-213H19.1; STK26

Genbank Number:

NM_016542

References:

1. Dan, I. Et al: Cloning of MASK, a novel member of the mammalian germinal center kinase III subfamily, with apoptosis-inducing properties. J. Biol. Chem. 277: 5929-5939, 2002.

2. Sung, V. et al: The Ste20 kinase MST4 plays a role in prostate cancer progression. Cancer Res. 63: 3356-3363, 2003.