Lymphocyte antigen 6 complex locus protein K (LY6K)

Lymphocyte antigen 6 complex locus protein K (LY6K) is a small, glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored cell surface protein and member of the Ly6/uPAR superfamily. It is classified as a cancer/testis antigen and is highly expressed in various cancers (including breast, lung, head and neck, bladder, and ovarian cancers) but is otherwise restricted to testis in normal tissues. LY6K plays key roles in cell signaling, particularly activating pathways such as ERK, AKT, and TGF-β, which promote tumor growth, invasion, cell proliferation, and poor prognosis. LY6K is also required for sperm function in testis. It is being evaluated as a potential therapeutic target in oncology because pharmacological inhibition of LY6K—such as with the small molecule NSC243928—disrupts cancer cell division and survival while posing limited risk of toxicity in normal somatic tissues. High LY6K expression also serves as a predictive and prognostic biomarker in several cancer types[1][2][3][4][5][6][8].

Other names

Lymphocyte antigen 6KCancer/testis antigen 105LY6K protein

Inhibition of LY6K disrupts mitosis and cytokinesis via Aurora B kinase pathway; Interference with tumor cell proliferation, migration, invasion, survival, and signaling through ERK, AKT, and TGFβ pathways[3][1][4]