Phorbol Esters as Probes for the Study of Protein Kinase C Function

A wealth of information about protein kinase C (PKC) and its biological functions has been generated with the use of phorbol esters as pharmacological probes. Phorbol esters function as ultrapotent analogs of the second messenger diacylglycerol (DAG), the endogenous ligand of PKC. However, their higher potency and reduced metabolism relative to DAG have made the phorbol esters the most common pharmacological agents for the study of PKC function. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.