Transcriptomics: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) Signaling Pathway and Mammalian Cells

Waneene C Dorsey

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway has been implicated as a key signaling system that mediates extracellular signals through a cascade of phosphorylation in mammalian cells. There are three distinct tiers in the MAPK pathway that are stimulated by different stress signals, ERK, JNK, and p38. Identifying cell signaling molecules as a response to stress is of extreme importance, since signal transduction provides the necessary link between a stimulus from the external environment of a cell and the events that occur among its intracellular components. Modulation of biomolecules in the MAPK family is a key mechanism of action and has the potential to cause cell cycle progression, proliferation, and differentiation. However, the onset of cancer is influenced by mutated regulatory genes. Therefore, when gene mutations occur, their products interact with biomolecules of the MAPK pathway. This interaction cause molecular events such as tumorigenesis to manifest.