cancers Review Protein Tyrosine Kinases: Their Roles and Their Targeting in Leukemia Kalpana K. Bhanumathy 1,*, Amrutha Balagopal 1, Frederick S. Vizeacoumar 2 , Franco J. Vizeacoumar 1,3, Andrew Freywald 2 and Vincenzo Giambra 4,* 1 Division of Oncology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada;
[email protected] (A.B.);
[email protected] (F.J.V.) 2 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada;
[email protected] (F.S.V.);
[email protected] (A.F.) 3 Cancer Research Department, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, 107 Wiggins Road, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada 4 Institute for Stem Cell Biology, Regenerative Medicine and Innovative Therapies (ISBReMIT), Fondazione IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, 71013 San Giovanni Rotondo, FG, Italy * Correspondence:
[email protected] (K.K.B.);
[email protected] (V.G.); Tel.: +1-(306)-716-7456 (K.K.B.); +39-0882-416574 (V.G.) Simple Summary: Protein phosphorylation is a key regulatory mechanism that controls a wide variety of cellular responses. This process is catalysed by the members of the protein kinase su- perfamily that are classified into two main families based on their ability to phosphorylate either tyrosine or serine and threonine residues in their substrates. Massive research efforts have been invested in dissecting the functions of tyrosine kinases, revealing their importance in the initiation and progression of human malignancies. Based on these investigations, numerous tyrosine kinase inhibitors have been included in clinical protocols and proved to be effective in targeted therapies for various haematological malignancies.