Targeted disruption of the murine homeodomain-interacting protein kinase-2 causes growth deficiency in vivo and cell cycle arrest in vitro

The homeodomain-interacting protein kinase 2 (HIPK2) protein is a member of a recently identified family of nuclear protein kinases that are well conserved in various organisms. HIPK2 can bind to several homeotic factors and to a series of proteins involved in the regulation of cell survival and proliferation in response to morphogenetic and genotoxic signals. Here we report Hipk2-targeted disruption in mouse; Hipk2^-/- mice are viable and fertile but significantly smaller than their wild-type littermates. This feature is present at birth and retained throughout the mouse adulthood. Mouse embryo fibroblasts from Hipk2^-/- mice show a reduced proliferation rate, compared to the wild-type counterparts, with accumulation in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle and altered levels of the cell cycle regulators cyclin D and CDK6. Restoration of wild-type HIPK2 expression in Hipk2^-/- cells rescues the normal phenotype supporting a role for HIPK2 in the regulation of cell proliferation.