Cell structure, adhesion plaques

Half of the products of oncogenes are protein kinases, mostly of the tyrosine type. This finding was of fundamental importance because it revealed that abnormal phosphorylation of a number of proteins could explain, at least in part, various effects of transformation. The critical cell proteins whose abnormal phosphorylation presumably leads to transformation are still to be defined. However, they include vinculin, which is a protein found in focal adhesion plaques (structures involved in intercellular adhesions). The abnormal phosphorylation of vinculin in focal adhesion plaques could explain the tendency of cells to become round and... 

Gordon, K. B., Papp, K. A., Hamilton, T. K., Walicke, P. A., Dummer, W., Li, N., Bresnahan, B. W., and Menter, A. (2003). Efalizumab for patients vrith moderate to severe plaque psoriasis A randomized controlled trial. Jama 290, 3073-3080. Harpaz, Y., and Chothia, C. (1994). Many of the immoglobulin superfamily domains in cell adhesion molecules and surface receptors belong to a new structural set which is close to that containing variable domains. J. Mol. Biol. 238, 528-539. 

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