Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) also known as ALK tyrosine kinase receptor or CD246 (cluster of differentiation 246) is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ALK gene.
The receptor ALK plays a pivotal role in cellular communication and in the normal development and function of the nervous system.This observation is based on the extensive expression of ALK messenger RNA (mRNA) throughout the nervous system during mouse embryogenesis.In vitro functional studies have demonstrated that ALK activation promotes neuronal differentiation of PC12 or neuroblastoma cell lines.ALK is critical for embryonic development in Drosophila. Flies lacking the receptor die due to failure of founder cell specification in embryonic visceral muscle.However, while ALK knockout mice exhibit defects in neurogenesis and testosterone production, they remain viable, suggesting that ALK is not critical to their developmental processes.
The ALK gene can be oncogenic in three ways – by forming a fusion gene with any of several other genes, by gaining additional gene copies or with mutations of the actual DNA code for the gene itself.
