Description
Protein Kinase C (PKC) isoforms are serine/threonine kinases
involved in signal transduction pathways that govern
a wide range of physiological processes including differentiation,
proliferation, gene expression, brain function, membrane
transport and the organization of cytoskeletal and extracellular
matrix proteins. Increasing evidence from studies
using in vitro and in vivo systems points to PKC as a key regulator
of critical cell cycle transitions, including cell cycle entry
and exit and the G1 and G2 checkpoints. PKC-mediated
control of these transitions can be negative or positive, depending
on the timing of PKC activation during the cell cycle
and on the specific PKC isozymes involved. There have
been at least 12 different PKC isoforms identified in humans
to date, including alpha, beta I, beta II, gamma, delta, epsilon,
zeta, eta, theta, iota, lambda, and mu.
