Protein kinase CK2 and cell polarity

There is increasing evidence that protein kinase CK2 is involved, among a wide variety of cellular processes, in the maintenance of mammalian cell morphology and cell polarity. Here, we show that in epithelial cells, a fraction of CK2 is associated to the plasma membrane and that this localization is controlled by cell–matrix interactions. In addition, inhibition of CK2 activity in mammary epithelial cells (MCF10A), using either the specific CK2 inhibitor TBB or siRNA-mediated CK2β knockdown, induced differential phenotypes revealing an important role of this enzyme in epithelial cell morphology.