The oncogenic FIP1L1-PDGFRα fusion protein displays skewed signaling properties compared to its wild-type PDGFRα counterpart.

Aberrant activation of oncogenic kinases is frequently observed in human cancers, but the underlying mechanism and resulting effects on global signaling are incompletely understood. Here, we demonstrate that the oncogenic FIP1L1-PDGFRα kinase exhibits a significantly different signaling pattern compared to its PDGFRα wild type counterpart. Interestingly, the activation of primarily membrane-based signal transduction processes (such as PI3-kinase- and MAP-kinase- pathways) is remarkably shifted toward a prominent activation of STAT factors.