PKD2 and cystic kidney disease: More recently, a second non-mitotic cilia-associated function of Aurora A has been observed, as Aurora-A was shown to phosphorylate and inactivate polycystin-2 (PKD2), a Ca(2+)-permeable nonselective cation channel localized in the ER and in cilia, and Aurora-A expression was found to be upregulated and activated in the renal cysts of human PKD patients [17], [18].