Protein Kinase N3 (PKN3)

PKN3 is required for invasive prostate cell growth as assessed by 3D cell culture assays and in an orthotopic mouse tumor model by inducible expression of short hairpin RNA (shRNA). PKN3 may represent a target for therapeutic intervention in cancers that lack tumor suppressor PTEN function or depend on chronic activation of PI3K.The deduced 889-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 99.6 kD. PKN3 contains 3 N-terminal repeats of a charged region with leucine zipper-like sequences, followed by a domain conserved in other PKN proteins, 2 unique proline-rich regions, and a C-terminal catalytic region with a protein kinase-type ATP-binding sequence. Northern blot analysis detected a 3-kb PKN3 transcript in several cancer cell lines, but not in normal adult human tissues.