Protein Kinase CK2 Cellular Function in Normal and Disease States

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. ​

Dr. Khalil Ahmed is a Professor at the University of Minnesota, and a Senior Research Career Scientist at Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. He has a long history of studies on the functional biology of protein kinase CK2 in normal and neoplastic cells. He originally described the signal mediated dynamic shuttling of CK2 in the cell, and discovered the role of CK2 as a suppressor of apoptosis. His current research is focused on the mechanism of CK2 regulation of cell death. He is also studying the development of molecular therapeutic strategies using a nanomedicine approach for treatment of prostate and other cancers.

Dr. Olaf-Georg Issinger is a Professor at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. He has been involved in the initial cloning and characterization of protein kinase CK2, a prerequisite for the elucidation of its structure in the absence and presence of specific interaction molecules. His current research focuses on the exploration of cellular signaling pathways in cell lines with respect to the role of various protein kinases using newly characterized kinase inhibitors identified by screening small chemical compound libraries.

Dr. Ryszard Szyszka is a Professor at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. He is head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Dean of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Environmental Sciences. His research is focused on the identification and characterization of new substrates of protein kinase CK2 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Further areas of interest include the structure and regulation of yeast CK2, and discovery of novel CK2 inhibitors.