BRPK, a novel protein kinase showing increased expression in mouse cancer cell lines with higher metastatic potential

A novel protein kinase named BRPK was isolated and partially characterized. BRPK was expressed at a higher level in three carcinoma cell lines with higher metastatic potential. Mouse and human BRPK cDNAs are well conserved and encode 580 and 581 amino acids, respectively. BRPK has a serine/threonine-type protein kinase domain, and the recombinant proteins of BRPK were capable of autophosphorylation. The results of a comparative sequence analysis indicated a possible link of BRPK to BRAP2. BRAP2 is known to bind the nuclear localization signal of BRCA1. We cloned mouse BRAP2 cDNA and showed the presence of isoforms. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.