Mitogen-activated protein kinase 13 (MAPK13)

Serine/threonine kinase which functions as an essential component of the MAP kinase signal transduction pathway. MAPK13 is one of the four p38 MAPKs which play an important role in the cascades of cellular reactions evoked by extracellular stimuli such as proinflammatory cytokines or physical strain resulting in direct activation of transcription factors such as ELK1 and ATF2.

Accordingly, p38 MAPKs phosphorylate a wide assortment of proteins and it has been estimated that they might have roughly 200 to 300 substrates each. MAPK13 is one of the less studied p38 MAPK isoforms.