Ryk is a Tyrosine kinase

Ryk (related-to-receptor tyrosine kinase), an atypical tyrosine kinase receptor.

Adamo et al., report that Ryk (related-to-receptor tyrosine kinase), an atypical tyrosine kinase receptor, is upregulated in samples from glioblastoma GBM patients as well as in GSCs. Ryk overexpression confers stemness properties to GBM cells through the modulation of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway and by promoting the activation of pluripotency-related transcription factor circuitry and neurosphere formation ability. In contrast, siRNA-mediated knockdown of Ryk expression suppresses this stem-like phenotype. Rescue experiments reveal that stemness-promoting activity of Ryk is attributable, at least in part, to β-catenin stabilization. Furthermore, Ryk overexpression improves cell motility and anchorage independent cell growth. Taken together, the findings demonstrate that Ryk promotes stem cell-like and tumorigenic features to glioma cells its essential for the maintenance of GSCs and could be a target of novel therapies ¹⁾.