Background of the antigen
The ILK protein is important in different biological pathways such as cell adhesion, anchorage-dependent cell cycle progression, oncogenic transformation, and growth factor signaling. The kinase activity of ILK is low in non-activated cells; its activity is stimulated by cell-ECM interactions and by certain growth factors. 3 Negative regulation of ILK is mediated by two phosphatases: PTEN, a tumor suppressor lipid sphatase, and ILKAP, a PP2C protein phosphatase. In tumor cells that do not express PTEN protein, ILK is constitutively active.
