Overview:

STK33 is a distant member of the CAMK group of serine/threonine kinases but it lacks the calcium/calmodulin-binding domain and the C-terminal regulatory tail. STK33 is highly expressed in testis, lung epithelia, alveolar macrophages, horizontal cells in the retina and in embryonic organs such as heart, brain and spinal cord. STK33 is essential for abnormal cell growth in human cell lines expressing oncogenic mutations in KRAS, but not in human cancer cell lines expressing wildtype KRAS. STK33 is required for survival and proliferation of mutant KRAS-dependent cancer cells, in which it suppresses the S6K1-BAD proapoptotic signaling pathway.

Gene Aliases:

none

Genbank Number:

BC031231

References:

1. Mujica A O, et al: A novel serine/threonine kinase gene, STK33, on human chromosome 11p15.3. Gene 280: 175-181, 2001.

2. Scholl C, et al: Synthetic lethal interaction between oncogenic KRAS dependency and STK33 suppression in human cancer cells. Cell 137: 821-834, 2009.