Kinase is a class of enzymes in biochemistry that transfer phosphate groups from high-energy donor molecules to specific target molecules, with the largest group being protein kinases. Kinases play a wide-ranging role in cellular signal transduction and the complex activities of life. Different kinases act on various small molecules, either to send signals or to prepare them for various biochemical reactions in metabolism.
Kinase is the most important class of targets in the development of anti-tumor drugs, such as the key targets ALK/ROS1 for non-small cell lung cancer, JAK2 for various malignant hematological 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 small molecule kinase inhibitors being used in clinical treatment or entering clinical research. However, with the widespread use of kinase inhibitors, clinical issues such as acquired resistance and side effects have also emerged.
