Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase Kinase Kinase 8 (MAP3K8)

Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 8 is a member of the serine/threonine protein kinase family. This kinase can activate both the MAP kinase and JNK kinase pathways. This kinase was shown to activate IkappaB kinases, and thus induce the nuclear production of NF-kappaB.

This kinase was also found to promote the production of TNF-alpha and IL-2 during T lymphocyte activation. Studies of a similar gene in rat suggested the direct involvement of this kinase in the proteolysis of NF-kappaB1,p105 (NFKB1). This gene may also utilize a downstream in-frame translation start codon, and thus produce an isoform containing a shorter N-terminus. The shorter isoform has been shown to display weaker transforming activity.