Invitrogen™ Human ALK, GST Tag Recombinant Protein

Anaplastic Lymphoma Receptor Tyrosine Kinase (ALK) belongs to the insulin receptor superfamily. It is vital for brain development. Mutations, rearrangements, and amplifications in the ALK gene have been found in tumors, including anaplastic large cell lymphoma, neurblastoma, and non-small cell lung cancer. Chromosomal rearrangement is the most common genetic alteration. The translocation creates a fusion gene consisting of the ALK gene and the nucleophosmin gene: the 3' half of ALK, derived from chromosome 2, is fused to the 5' portion of NPM from chromosome 5. A recent study shows that the product of the NPM-ALK fusion gene is oncogenic. The deduced amino acid sequences reveal that ALK is a novel receptor protein-tyrosine kinase having a putative transmembrane domain and an extracellular domain. These sequences are absent in the product of the transforming NPM-ALK gene. ALK shows the greatest sequence similarity to LTK. ALK plays an important role in the development of the brain and exerts its effects on specific neurons in the nervous system.