Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel protein kinase with a catalytic domain homologous to mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascades include MAPK or extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), MAPK kinase (MKK or MEK), and MAPK kinase kinase (MAPKKK or MEKK). MAPKK kinase/MEKK phosphorylates and activates its downstream protein kinase, MAPK kinase/MEK, which in turn activates MAPK. We report herein the isolation of a cDNA encoding a novel protein kinase designated MAPKKK5 from a human macrophage library.