Online Medicine

TAK1, an enzyme known to play key roles in early development and immunity, is a pivotal element in a genetic pathway that regulates cells' ability to sense the need for energy, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "What we found was a totally serendipitous and unpredicted essential role for this kinase (TGF-beta-activated kinase-1) as an indispensable regulator of the cell's energy sensor, known as AMP-activated protein kinase or AMPK," said Dr. Michael Schneider, the M. D. Anderson Foundation Professor in the Department of Medicine at BCM. He credited Drs. Min Xie and Dou Zhang, both postdoctoral students at BCM, with taking the lead in performing the experiments in the study. The AMPK pathway is activated when energy levels fall in cells, said Schneider. "Having high AMP is reflective of energy starvation, and the consequence is to activate the …