※ Abl family introduction

    ABL kinases consist of protein kinase catalytic domain and Src homology domains SH3 and SH2. However, the cellular ABL kinase(c-Abl) is different from Src tyrosine kinase. First, c-Abl can localize both in cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments. Second, c-Abl can interact with the cytoskeleton via its binding sites for F-actin and G-actin. Third, c-Abl can be associated with chromatin via its three HMG-like boxes which mediate the binding with A/T diplexes and distorted DNA structure. c-Abl play an important role in many processes associated with cell growth and survival. c-Abl knockout mice will exhibit embrynoic and neonatal lethality which can be rescued by the transgenic expression of c-Abl cDNA. Studies show that c-Abl has an active role in the induction of cell death. In addtion, ABL kinase possesses the oncogenic potential which can be activated in the Bcr-Abl fusion protein of chronic myelogenous leukemia (1).

Reference
1. Wang, J.Y. (2000) Regulation of cell death by the Abl tyrosine kinase. Oncogene, 19, 5643-5650 PMID: 11114745