Exploring the YANK family: Emerging therapeutic targets for various diseases

The YANK (yet another novel kinase) family, which includes YANK1 (serine/threonine kinase 32A), YANK2 (serine/threonine kinase 32B), and YANK3 (serine/threonine kinase 32C), is a class of serine/threonine protein kinases capable of transferring a γ-phosphate group from adenosine triphosphate to a serine or threonine residue to initiate protein function and catalyze phosphorylation of the substrate protein. Overexpression of these kinases is reported in various diseases, such as essential tremor, Alzheimer’s disease, and glioma. The YANK family is considered to have “druggable” potential, and a comprehensive review of the existing studies on YANK is helpful for obtaining a more intuitive understanding of its research status. The following section introduces the YANK family from 4 perspectives: sequence characteristics, biological functions, relationships with diseases, and upstream and downstream regulation.