Aurora kinases

Abstract

Aurora kinases A (also known as Aurora, Aurora-2, AIK, AIR-1, AIRK1, AYK1, BTAK, Eg2, MmIAK1 and STK15), Aurora B (also known as Aurora-1, AIM-1, AIK2, AIR-2, AIRK-2, ARK2, IAL-1 and STK12) and Aurora C (also known as AIK3) participate in several biological processes, including cytokinesis and dysregulated chromosome segregation. These important regulators of mitosis are over-expressed in diverse solid tumors. One member of this family of serine-threonine kinases, human Aurora A, has been proposed as a drugable target in pancreatic cancer. The recent determination of the three-dimensional structure of Aurora A has shown that Aurora kinases exhibit unique conformations around the activation loop region. This property has boosted the search and development of inhibitors of Aurora kinases, which might also function as novel antioncogenic agents.