Transduction of extracellular matrix signals through integrins influences intracellular and extracellular functions, and appears to require interaction of integrin cytoplasmic domains with cellular proteins. Integrin-linked kinase (ILK), interacts with the cytoplasmic domain of beta-1 integrin. This gene encodes a serine/threonine protein kinase with 4 ankyrin-like repeats, which associates with the cytoplasmic domain of beta integrins and acts as a proximal receptor kinase regulating integrin-mediated signal transduction. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding the same protein have been found for this gene.
