Protein kinases as drug targets in human and animal diseases

Almost thirty percent of the protein targets currently under exploration and study constitute the protein kinases which have always attracted the pharmaceutical companies as they are easy targets for drug development. Although the kinases will remain major focus of oncology for many years to come in the development of anticancer drugs, the number of kinase inhibitors as therapeutic targets for the treatment of several other diseases which are undergoing clinical trials are exponentially increasin. In this review, we discuss very briefly the different types of protein kinases that have been used as targets for developing drugs for cancer, inflammation, autoimmune disease, heart disease andanimal diseases.