The role of receptoral and non-receptoral tyrosine kinase: Proline reach kinase, pyk2, is expressed and regulated in the prostate

Proline-rich kinase 2 (PYK2) also known as CAK (Cell Adhesion kinase) is a protein of 1009 amino acids, containing a long amino-terminal sequence of 425 amino acids followed by a protein tyrosine kinase domain, two proline rich domains (29 and 23.3% proline, respectively), and a large carboxy- terminal region. Northern blot analysis of multiple human tissues demonstrated the 4.5 kilobase PYK2 transcript is highly expressed in the human brain. PYK2 is related to the focal adhesion kinase and is activated by several extracellular signals acting via very different post-receptoral pathways. We investigated whether this protein kinase is present in the prostate and whether it plays a role in the regulation of prostate cell growth.