Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTKs)

Products | Related Research Areas | Background | Related Information

Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTKs) are widely expressed transmembrane proteins that act as receptors for growth factors, neurotrophic factors, and other extracellular signaling molecules.  RTKs have critical functions in several developmental processes including:

  • Regulating cell survival
  • Cell proliferation
  • Cell motility

R&D Systems offers a variety of tools to study RTKs individually, as well as the Human Phospho-RTK Array Kit (Catalog # ARY001B) that allows the user to assess the activity of many RTKs in a single sample.

Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Products

Discoidin Domain Receptors (DDR)
   
EGF R/ErbB Receptor Family
 
Eph Receptors
FGF Receptors
Flt-3
   
HGF Receptor/c-MET
   
Insulin and Insulin-like Receptors
Kits
   
Leukocyte Tyrosine Kinase (LTK) Family
   
Neurotrophin/Trk Family Receptors
PDGF Family Receptors
  
ROR
   
TAM RTK Subfamily (Axl, Dtk, and Mer)
   
Tie
   
VEGF Receptors
  
Other RTKs

Related Research Areas

Background

The simplest receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) have three domains: 

  1. A ligand binding domain outside the cell
  2. A single membrane-spanning domain
  3. A tyrosine kinase domain inside the cell

The ligands are usually diffusible peptides or small proteins produced elsewhere in the organism, and are typically growth factors, cytokines and hormones. In the absence of a ligand, the receptor is inactive. Ligand binding results in receptor dimerization with an adjacent receptor, causing the tyrosine kinase domain on the receptor to become active. The receptors can then phosphorylate each other on multiple tyrosine sites; they may then bind with one or more other proteins (called SH2 proteins) that specifically recognize the phosphorylated tyrosines. Some SH2 proteins are themselves enzymes, while others are adapter molecules that in turn attract and bind other enzymes. Often these enzymes are inactive until they join the receptor complex, because their substrates are found only in the membrane. The products of these enzymes may act on yet other molecules, thus continuing the signaling cascade, or they may be used in cell metabolism for growth or other responses.  When unregulated, RTKs play prominent roles in cancer formation.

Related Information