phosphorylation motif. Activation of p38 MAPK pathway has been implicated in a variety of stress response in addition to inflammation, including osmotic shock, heat, and oxidative stress. The canonical pathway for p38 MAPK activation involve a cascade of protein kinases, including MAP3K such as MEKK1, 2, 3 and 4, TGFβ-activated kinase (TAK1), TAO1-3, mixed-lineage kinase 2/3 (MLK2/3), and apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1/2 (ASK1/2), as well as MAP2Ks, such as MKK3, 6 and 4. MAP2K mediated phosphorylation of the TGY motif results in conformational change of p38 MAPK which allows kinase activation and accessibility to substrates. In addition, TAK1-binding protein 1 (TAB1) and ZAP70 can induce p38 MAPK via non-canonical autophosphorylation. Furthermore, acetylation of p38 MAPK at lys-53 of the ATP-binding pocket also enhances p38 MAPK activity during cellular stress Under basal conditions, p38α MAPK is detected in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. One of the consequences of p38 MAPK activation is translocation into the nucleus. involving both p38 MAPK phosphorylation and microtubule- and dynein-dependent process. In addition, one substrate of p38 MAPK, MAP kinase-activated protein kinase 2 (MAPAK2 or MK2) can modulate and direct p38α MAPK localization to cytosole via direct interaction. p38α MAPK activation can be reversed by dephosphorylation of the TGY motif carried out by protein phosphatases, including ser-thr protein phosphatases (PPs), protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTP), and dual-specificity phosphatases (DUSP). For example, ser/thr phosphatases PP2Cα/β suppress activity of p38s MAPK through direct interaction as well as suppression of MKKs/TAK1 in mammalian cells. Hematopoietic PTP (HePTP) and striatal-enriched phosphatase (STEP) bind to MAPKs through a kinase-interaction motif (KIM) and inactivates them by dephosphorylating the phosphotyrosine residue in their activation loop. DUSPs, which have a docking domain to MAPKs and dual-specific phosphatase activity, can also bind to p38 MAPKs and dephosphorylate of both phosphotyrosine and phosphothreonine residues. In addition to these phosphatases, other molecular components such as Hsp90-Cdc37 chaperone complex can also modulate p38 MAPK autophosphorylation activity and prevents non-canonical activation. p38α MAPK is implicated in cell survival/apoptosis, proliferation, differentiation, migration, mRNA stability, and inflammatory response in different cell types through variety of different target molecules MK2 is one of the well-studied downstream targets of p38α MAPK. Their downstream substrates include small heat shock protein 27 (HSP27), lymphocyte-specific protein1 (LSP1), cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2), activating transcription factor 1 (ATF1), serum response factor (SRF), and mRNA-binding protein tristetraprolin (TTP) In addition to protein kinases, many transcription