Protein Kinase A Activators Small Molecules and Peptides

Protein kinase A (PKA, aka cAMP-dependent protein kinase) is involved in the regulation of lipid and glucose metabolism and is a component of the signal transduction mechanism of certain GPCRs. Protein kinase A is composed of two regulatory subunits and two catalytic subunits. There are multiple isoforms of the regulatory subunit (RIα- and RIβ-, RIIα- and RIIβ-).

Binding of cAMP to the regulatory subunit releases the catalytic subunits, which then phosphorylate a diverse set of proteins including the transcription factor CREB, ion channels and metabolic enzymes. Protein kinase A is localized to specific sites near these substrates within cells by scaffold proteins known as A kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs).