“…In vivo, however, MAPKAP-K2 is activated by a distinct MAP kinase homologue termed stress-activated protein kinase-2 (SAPK-2), also known as p38 [3], p40 [4], RK [5], CSBP [6] and Mxi2 [7]. SAPK-2 and MAPKAP-K2 become activated within a few minutes when cells are stimulated with the cytokines interleukin-1 (IL-1) [4] or tumour necrosis factor (TNF) [8], with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) [6,9] or when stressed in a variety of ways, for example by exposure to heat or osmotic shock, UV irradiation, sodium arsenite or anisomycin [3,5,10]. The activation of MAPKAP-K2 by these stimuli is prevented if cells are first incubated with SB 203580, a specific inhibitor of SAPK-2 which does not affect the activity or activation of other MAP kinase family members, such as p42/p44 MAP kinases or SAPK-1 (also termed JNK) [9].…”