In the mid-1990s Vertex chemists crafted compounds that block a key kinase protein that unleashes toxic immune-system molecules in arthritic joints.

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The compound targeted the protein kinase C-alpha, one of a family of 13 known proteins that relay information from one to another.

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AstraZeneca is in midstage trials with 180 melanoma patients for a drug that hits a related target called mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase.

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AstraZeneca (nyse: AZN - news - people ) is in midstage trials with 180 melanoma patients for a drug that hits a related target called mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase.

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Professor Seth Grant, an expert in the molecular mechanism of learning and memory at Edinburgh University, told BBC News Online that PKM was a particular version of an enzyme called protein kinase C (PKC) that had long been implicated in learning.

BBC: Scientists boost memory power