STK15 Antibody / Serine/threonine-protein kinase 15 / AURKA

AURKA (Aurora kinase A), also called ARK1, AurA, AIK , AURORA2, BTAK, PPP1R47, STK7, STK15, STK6, is a mitotic centrosomal protein kinase. The main role of STK15 in tumor development is in controlling chromosome segregation during mitosis. It is a member of a family of mitotic serine/threonine kinases. Cell cycle and Northern blot analyses showed that peak expression of STK15 occurs during the G2/M phase and then decreases. By fluorescence in situ hybridization, AURKA gene is represented by 2 signals in chromosome bands 20q13.2-q13.3 and 1q41-q42. The AURKA gene is overexpressed in many human cancers. Ectopic overexpression of Aurora kinase A / Serine/threonine-protein kinase 15 in mammalian cells induces centrosome amplification, chromosome instability, and oncogenic transformation, a phenotype characteristic of loss-of-function mutations of p53. Depletion of Ajuba prevented activation of STK15 at centrosomes in late G2 phase and inhibited mitotic entry. Activation of STK15 was independently sufficient to induce rapid ciliary resorption, and STK15 acted in this process through phosphorylation of HDAC6, leading to HDAC6-dependent tubulin deacetylation and destabilization of the ciliary axoneme. Small molecule inhibitors of STK15 and HDAC6 reduced regulated disassembly of cilia.