Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have introduced KiNet , an interactive web portal designed to explore kinase-substrate interactions in human cellular systems. These interactions play a vital role in modulating complex signaling pathways that control various cellular processes, such as cell growth, differentiation, and response to environmental stimuli. By integrating data from multiple public databases, KiNet enables the scientific community to visualize and study these interactions in systemwide contexts, enhancing the understanding of kinase functions and their implications in diseases like cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and cardiovascular diseases.
Details of KiNet are published in npj Systems Biology and Applications . Kinases are enzymes that modify other proteins by adding phosphate groups to them, a process known as phosphorylation. This modification regulates the activity, localization, and function of proteins, ultimately influencing various cellular activities.
Disruption in these kinase-substrate interactions is often linked to diseases, making them major targets for therapeutic intervention. Despite the abundance of data on kinases and their substrates, much of this information is scattered across multiple databases, making it challenging to interpret in the context of cellular systems. KiNet addresses this issue by aggregating data from major databases and providing a user-friendly platform for researchers to explore these inter.