Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase

"MKK" redirects here. For other uses, see MKK (disambiguation).

Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (also known as MAP2K, MEK, MAPKK) is a dual-specificity kinase enzyme which phosphorylates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK).

Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase
Identifiers
EC no.	2.7.12.2
Databases
IntEnz	IntEnz view
BRENDA	BRENDA entry
ExPASy	NiceZyme view
KEGG	KEGG entry
MetaCyc	metabolic pathway
PRIAM	profile
PDB structures	RCSB PDB PDBe PDBsum
Search PMC articles PubMed articles NCBI proteins

MAP2K is classified as EC 2.7.12.2.

There are seven genes:

• MAP2K1 (a.k.a. MEK1)
• MAP2K2 (a.k.a. MEK2)
• MAP2K3 (a.k.a. MKK3)
• MAP2K4 (a.k.a. MKK4)
• MAP2K5 (a.k.a. MKK5)
• MAP2K6 (a.k.a. MKK6)
• MAP2K7 (a.k.a. MKK7)

The activators of p38 (MKK3 and MKK6), JNK (MKK4 and MKK7), and ERK (MEK1 and MEK2) define independent MAP kinase signal transduction pathways.^[1] The acronym MEK derives from MAPK/ERK Kinase.^[2]

Role in melanoma

MEK is a member of the MAPK signaling cascade that is activated in melanoma.^[3] When MEK is inhibited, cell proliferation is blocked and apoptosis (controlled cell death) is induced.

See also

• Signal transduction
• MAP kinase
• MAP kinase kinase kinase
• MAP kinase kinase kinase kinase