Overview:

LTK is a member of the ros/insulin receptor family of tyrosine kinases. LTK express a gene encoding a putative transmembrane protein-kinase devoid of an extracellular domain and it may encode a signal transduction subunit for one or more of the hematopoietic receptors (1). LTK gene produces not only the putative receptor tyrosine kinase for an unknown ligand but also multiple protein products that may have different functions (2). LTK causes upregulation of the PI3K pathway and possibly form a genetic component of susceptibility to abnormal proliferation of self-reactive B cells in SLE (3).

Gene Aliases:

TYK1

Genbank Number:

NM_002344

References:

1. Ben-Neriah, Y. et.al: Leukocytes express a novel gene encoding a putative transmembrane protein-kinase devoid of an extracellular domain.(Letter) Nature 333: 672-676, 1988.

2. Toyoshima, H. et.al: Differently spliced cDNAs of human leukocyte tyrosine kinase receptor tyrosine kinase predict receptor proteins with and without a tyrosine kinase domain and a soluble receptor protein. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 90: 5404-5408, 1993.

3. Li, N. et.al: Gain-of-function polymorphism in mouse and human Ltk: implications for the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus. Hum. Molec. Genet. 13: 171-179, 2004.