A patent review of mitogen-activated protein kinase-interacting kinases (MNKs) modulators (2019-present)

Introduction The mitogen-activated protein kinase interacting kinases (MNKs) modulate protein translation through the phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) at serine 209, which is crucial for tumorigenesis but dispensable for normal development. MNKs are implicated in various pathological processes, including inflammation, obesity, cancer, etc. Thus, MNKs are considered as potential drug targets and the development of potent and selective MNK inhibitors is a current research focus.