Oncology

Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT ) is a family of cytoplasmic transcription factors comprising of 7 members-STAT1, STAT2, STAT3, STAT4, STAT5a, STAT5b, and STAT6. The STAT factors are activated by tyrosine kinase which could be either receptor associated as Janus Kinase (JAKs) or intrinsic tyrosine kinase such as PDGFR, EGFR, and FLT3. Non-receptor protein tyrosine kinase (PTKs) like Brk, c-Src Bcr-Abl can also play a role in their activation. Phosphorylation at specific sites by tyrosine kinase plays a major role in homo and hetro dimerization of STAT proteins imparting a role in DNA binding and transcriptional activation. Since majority of them ...