Kinases in biochemistry are a type of enzyme that transfers phosphate groups from high-energy donor molecules to specific target molecules. The largest group of kinases is protein kinases. Kinases play a wide role in cell signaling and complex cellular activities. Different kinases act on different small molecules, either to send signals or to prepare them for various biochemical reactions in metabolism.
Kinases are an important class of targets in anti-tumor drug development, such as the key targets ALK/ROS1 for non-small cell lung cancer, the significant target JAK2 for various malignant blood tumors, and the popular target CDK9 for hematological tumors and lymphomas. Currently, significant breakthroughs have been made in the development of new drugs targeting ALK/ROS1, JAK2, and CDK9, with a number of kinase small molecule inhibitors being used in clinical treatment or entering clinical research. However, issues such as acquired resistance and toxic side effects have emerged with the widespread use of kinase inhibitors in clinical applications.
