The three Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases (MAPKs) are evolutionarily conserved protein kinases that control a vast array of cellular processes. p38 MAPK is one of these kinases and it is activated by both inflammatory cytokines and by stress (Johnson and Lapadat, 2002; Shi and Gaestel, 2002). The p38 MAPK is thought to be particularly important in diseases like asthma and autoimmunity but it also plays important roles in the stress response of the nervous system (Philip and Armstead, 2003; Ying et al., 2002). Like the other MAPKs, p38 is activated by a dual specificity kinase that phosphorylates Thr180 and Tyr182 (Lin et al., 1995).
