Main description:

Protein kinase CK2 (formerly casein kinase II or 2) is known to play a critical role in the control of cell growth and cell death and is thus intimately involved in the development of cancer. More specifically, CK2 has been found to be elevated in all cancers examined. While CK2 levels are known to be high in proliferating normal cells, CK2 has also been found to be a potent suppressor of apoptosis and is a link to the cancer cell phenotype, which is characterized by deregulation of both cell proliferation and cell death. Indeed, it would appear that CK2 impacts many of the hallmarks of cancer and it has now gained considerable attention as a potential target for cancer therapy. Protein Kinase CK2 and Cellular Function in Normal and Disease States increases knowledge of the role of CK2 in the development of cellular dysfunction and emphasizes that this protein may serve as a target of drug development for improved cancer therapy. In addition, it is a handy tool that provides cancer researchers, graduate students, and all scientists involved in CK2 research with one main source for the latest advances in CK2 research.

Contents:

Part I: Regulation and Structure-Function Studies of CK2

1. Yeast Asf1 protein as modulator of protein kinase CK2 activity
Andrea Baier, Ewa Alikowska and Ryszard Szyszka

2. Impressions from the conformational and configurational space captured by protein kinase CK2
Jennifer Hochscherf, Alexander Schnitzler, Olaf-Georg Issinger and Karsten Niefind

3. Structural basis of CK2 regulation by autoinhibitory oligomerization
Graziano Lolli and Roberto Battistutta

4. Maize RNA binding protein ZmTGH: a new partner for CK2 1 regulatory subunit
Isabel Cristina Velez-Bermudez and Marta Riera

Part II: CK2 Control of Organismal and Cellular Functions

5. CK2 in Organ Development, Physiology, and Homeostasis
Charina E. Ortega, Lawrence Prince-Wright, and Isabel Dominguez

6. Protein kinase CK2, a window into the post-translational regulation of the E(spl)/HES repressors from invertebrates and vertebrates
Adam T. Majot, Tyler R. Sizemore, Mohna Bandyopadhyay, Lucas M. Jozwick and Ashok P. Bidwai

7. Tissue specific functions and regulation of protein kinase CK2
Sabrina Welker, Christina Servas, Meng Rui, Claudia Goetz and Mathias Montenarh

8. CK2 function in the regulation of Akt pathway
Cristina Girardi and Maria Ruzzene

9. Cellular zinc signalling is triggered by CK2
Thirayost Nimmanon and Kathryn M. Taylor

10. CK2 - A global regulator of cell death
Janeen H. Trembley, Fatima Qaiser, Betsy T. Kren, Khalil Ahmed

11. Protein Kinase CK2: Systematic Relationships with Other Post-Translational Modifications
David W. Litchfield and Laszlo Gyenis

12. Role for protein kinase CK2 on cell proliferation: Assessing CK2 complex components in the nucleus during the cell cycle progression
Miwako Kato Homma, Takeshi Shibata, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Masato Ogura, Hiroko Kozuka-Hata, Masaaki Oyama, and Yoshimi Homma

13. "Genuine" casein kinase: the false sister of CK2 that phosphorylates secreted proteins at S-x-E/pS motifs
Elena Tibaldi, Giorgio Arrigoni, Giorgio Cozza, Luca Cesaro, Lorenzo A. Pinna

Part III: Function of CK2 in Cancer and its Therapeutic Targeting

14. Dysregulated expression of Protein kinase CK2 in Renal cancer
Caroline Roelants, Sofia Giacosa, Eve Duchemin-Pelletier, Anne McLeer-Florin, Celine Tisseyre, Cedric Aubert, Pierre Champelovier, Jean Boutonnat, Jean Luc Descotes, Jean-Jacques Rambeaud, Valentin Arnoux, Jean-Alexandre Long, Dominique Pasquier, Mathieu Laramas, Maysoun Kassem, Laurence David-Boudet, Laure Schoutteten, Benoit Bestgen, Catherine Pillet, Claude Cochet, Odile Filhol

15. Protein Kinase CK2 and Dysregulated Oncogenic Inflammatory Signaling Pathways
Etty N. Benveniste, G. Kenneth Gray and Braden C. McFarland

16. CIGB-300: A promising anti-Casein Kinase 2 (CK2) peptide for cancer targeted therapy
Silvio E. Perea, Yasser Perera, Idania Baladron, Lidia Gonzalez, Fernando Benavent, Hernan G. Farina, Idrian Garcia, Arielis Rodriguez, Vilcy Reyes, Yanelda Garcia, Roberto Gomez, Daniel F. Alonso, Carmen Valenzuela

17. Targeting CK2 for Cancer Therapy Using a Nanomedicine Approach
Khalil Ahmed, Gretchen Unger, Betsy T. Kren, Janeen H. Trembley

Part IV: Studies Involving CK2 Small Molecule Inhibitors

18. Screening of DTP compound libraries for CK2 inhibitors with focus on natural products
Tine D. Rasmussen, Barbara Guerra and Olaf-Georg Issinger

19. CK2 inhibitors and the DYRK family protein kinases
Yoshihiko Miyata

20. Sensitivity of protein kinase CK2 to ATP/GTP and specific inhibitors depends on complexity of interacting proteins
Andrea Baier and Ryszard Szyszka