In the 1980s, scientists discovered a fascinating family of powerful molecules and gave them a long name: extracellular signal-regulated kinases, or ERKs. Kinases are enzymes, and while many kinases are cellular workhorses that catalyze energy transfers and keep the cell’s internal machinery humming, ERKs in particular — as their name suggests — respond to signaling molecules from outside the cell that, in effect, relay biochemical messages telling cells to grow, die or change function.
Crossroads to Cancer
August 6, 2008