Overview:

MELK or maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase is a member of the Snf1/AMPK kinase family. MELK is a key regulator of the proliferation of malignant brain tumors including their stem cells(1). MELK transcript abundance correlates with malignancy grade in human astrocytomas and represents a therapeutic target for the management of the most frequent brain tumors in adult and children. MELK also plays a role in mammary carcinogenesis through inhibition of the pro-apoptotic function of Bcl-GL (2). Therefore, the kinase activity of MELK could be a promising molecular target for development of therapy for patients with breast cancers.

Gene Aliases:

HPK38, KIAA0175

Genbank Number:

NM_014791

References:

1. Nakano I. et.al: Maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (MELK) regulates multipotent neural progenitor proliferation. J Cell Biol 2005; 170: 413–27

2. Lin ML. et.al: Involvement of maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (MELK) in mammary carcinogenesis through interaction with Bcl-G, a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family. Breast Cancer Res 2007; 9: R17.