{"id":231724,"date":"2026-02-20T10:22:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/similar-kinases-play-distinct-roles-in-the-brain-what-this-could-mean-for-future-therapies"},"modified":"2026-02-20T10:22:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:22:36","slug":"similar-kinases-play-distinct-roles-in-the-brain-what-this-could-mean-for-future-therapies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/similar-kinases-play-distinct-roles-in-the-brain-what-this-could-mean-for-future-therapies","title":{"rendered":"Similar kinases play distinct roles in the brain\u2014what this could mean for future therapies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/similar-kinases-play-distinct-roles-in-the-brain-what-this-could-mean-for-future-therapies.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Structurally, they look similar: MNK1 and MNK2 belong to the same enzyme family and are best known for regulating how cells make proteins. Their starring role in such a crucial cellular function has cast them into the spotlight as potential drug targets to treat nervous system disorders and chronic pain. But would it matter whether a drug targets only one of them?<\/p>\n<p>In a study <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41380-026-03483-w\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in <i>Molecular Psychiatry<\/i>, researchers led by Rosalba Olga Proce, a doctoral student in the Molecular and Cellular Basis of Behavior lab led by Dr. Hanna Hornberg at the Max Delbruck Center, set out to determine whether the two enzymes\u2014also called kinases\u2014perform distinct functions in the brain. The team found clear differences. Mice lacking MNK1 showed less interest in newly introduced objects than controls and impaired memory of objects. By contrast, <a href=\"https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news\/2022-03-social-interactions.html?utm_source=embeddings&utm_medium=related&utm_campaign=internal\" rel=\"related\">mice without MNK2<\/a> appeared normal in object recognition tests but showed enhanced interest in social contacts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe behavioral differences we observed suggest that each kinase has a specialized function,\u201d says Proce. \u201cIt might be preferable to target each kinase individually when designing drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Structurally, they look similar: MNK1 and MNK2 belong to the same enzyme family and are best known for regulating how cells make proteins. Their starring role in such a crucial cellular function has cast them into the spotlight as potential drug targets to treat nervous system disorders and chronic pain. But would it matter whether [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}