Hindawi Mediators of Inflammation Volume 2021, Article ID 6618924, 17 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6618924 Review Article Mucosal Epithelial Jak Kinases in Health and Diseases Narendra Kumar ,1 Longxiang Kuang,1 Ryan Villa,1 Priyam Kumar ,2 and Jayshree Mishra 1 1Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ILR College of Pharmacy, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Kingsville TX 78363, USA 2Academy High School, Santa Gertrudis ISD, Kingsville, TX 78363, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Jayshree Mishra;
[email protected] Received 28 October 2020; Revised 2 January 2021; Accepted 6 March 2021; Published 17 March 2021 Academic Editor: Tomasz Brzozowski Copyright © 2021 Narendra Kumar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Janus kinases (Jaks) are a family of nonreceptor tyrosine kinase that include four different members, viz., Jak1, Jak2, Jak3, and Tyk2. Jaks play critical roles in immune cells functions; however, recent studies suggest they also play essential roles in nonimmune cell physiology. This review highlights the significance of epithelial Jaks in understanding the molecular basis of some of the diseases through regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, cell survival, cell growth, development, and differentiation. Growth factors and cytokines produced by the cells of hematopoietic origin use Jak kinases for signal transduction in both immune and nonimmune cells. Among Jaks, Jak3 is widely expressed in both immune cells and in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) of both humans and mice. Mutations that abrogate Jak3 functions cause an autosomal severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID) while activating Jak3 mutations lead to the development of hematologic and epithelial cancers.