Activating protein kinases to treat diseases: Current understanding and future challenges

Protein kinases, as one of the most important human enzymes, are signaling molecules that regulate almost all cell activities, including growth, cell division and metabolism. Dysfunction of these cellular pathways can lead to a variety of human diseases. Accumulating evidence on the down-regulation of key protein kinases in diseases has made a big progress. The down-regulation is related to cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases and other diseases. Thus, in this review, we defined the classifications of protein kinases and demonstrated the mechanisms of protein kinase activators in the treatment of human diseases, summarized the research progress of protein kinase activators, and further discussed the development progress of protein kinase activators in clinical stage. Accordingly, activation of protein kinases has become a crucial target for drug development. With the in-depth understanding of protein kinase functions and regulation mechanisms, the development of new protein kinase activators may continue to be a rapidly growing field, which will help to develop more accurate and effective targeted therapeutic strategies in the near future.