MAP kinase-activated protein kinase 5 is a member of the serine/threonine kinase family. In response to cellular stress and proinflammatory cytokines, this kinase is activated through its phosphorylation by MAP kinases including MAPK1/ERK, MAPK14/p38-alpha, and MAPK11/p38-beta. In vitro, this kinase phosphorylates heat shock protein HSP27 at its physiologically relevant sites. Two alternately spliced transcript variants of this gene encoding distinct isoforms have been reported.MAPKAPK5 encodes a predicted 471-amino acid protein that shares 20 to 30% sequence identity with RSK, MNK, and MAPKAPK kinases. MAPKAPK5 contains the conserved protein kinase domains I through XI, which are characteristic of all protein kinases.