AATK Protein

AATK or apoptosis-associated tyrosine kinase contains a tyrosine kinase domain at the N-terminus and a proline-rich domain at the C-terminus. AATK is induced during apoptosis, and expression of this protein is a necessary pre-requisite for the induction of growth arrest and/or apoptosis of myeloid precursor cells (1). AATK is highly detected in brain, lung, kidney, and pancreas (2). AATK is also shown to produce neuronal differentiation in a neuroblastoma cell line.