Phosphorylated Form of Activated IKKbeta and Pancreatic Cancer

University Of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha NE

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Kinases are attractive drug targets as evidenced by the number of recent FDA approvals of kinase inhibitors for cancer therapy. The drugs currently in the clinics are against either overexpressed kinases or mutated kinases that are implicated in the disease. However not all druggable kinases are mutated or overexpressed in many cases their activity altered through post-translational modifications. Others and we have identified elevated levels of phosphorylated IKK¿ in the tumor samples compared to the normal tissues suggesting that the diseased state of IKK¿ exists phosphorylated state. IKK¿ like other kinases is regulated by sequential phosphorylation-dephosphorylation events. The lack of phospho-specific antibodies against the various phosphorylated forms of IKK¿ makes defining the diseased state a challenging endeavor. In this application we will use a novel technology NanoPro 1000 to address this issue in pancreatic tumors and cell lines. This is an exploratory project as we seek to characterize the various post-translational modifications associated with a disease relevant kinase. Our focus on the specific forms of IKK¿, rather than IKK¿ in general, makes this bother novel and innovative.