Current Molecular Medicine - Volume 9, Issue 5, 2009

Virus-induced respiratory disease accounts for the majority of hospitalizations of young children during the winter months. The major viral causes of lower respiratory tract disease in infants and children are respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinovirus, metapneumovirus (hMPV), parainfluenza virus 3 (PIV-3), and influenza. The primary antiviral mechanism involves the activation of cytotoxic T cells and the clearance of virus-infe Read More

Apoptosis, a programmed cell death mechanism, is a fundamental process during the normal development and somatic maintenance of all multicellular organisms and thus is highly conserved and tightly regulated through numerous signaling pathways. Apoptosis is of particular clinical importance as its dysregulation contributes significantly to numerous human diseases, primarily through changes in the expression and Read More

Hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder, present in 1 of every 500 newborns. To date, 46 genes have been identified that cause nonsyndromic hearing loss, making it an extremely heterogeneous trait. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the inner ear function and expression pattern of these genes. In general, they are involved in hair bundle morphogenesis, form constituents of the extracellula Read More

Recently, lipoxins (LXs) and resolvins (Rvs) have become the topic of intense interest because of expanding views of their action, particularly in chronic disorders where unresolved inflammation is a key factor leading to colon carcinogenesis. Rvs are biosynthesized from omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) via cyclooxygenase-2/lipoxygenase (COX-2/LOX) pathways; Rvs are shown t Read More

Malignant gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors. Despite efforts to find effective treatments, these tumors remain incurable. The failure of malignant gliomas to respond to conventional cancer therapies may reflect the unique biology of these tumors, underscoring the need for new approaches in their investigation. Recently, progress has been made in characterization of the molecular pathogenesis of glioblasto Read More

Although the aetiology of MS remains elusive, several genetic approaches have provided clues to the underlying molecular pathogensis. In addition to the well known association to HLA class II alleles, weak but highly significant association to the interleukin-7 receptor and interleukin-2 receptor genes has recently been established. A series of other promising candidate genes identified in large genome screens are under evaluati Read More

Deregulation of the PI3K pathway is common in human cancer. The basic players in this pathway are the kinases PI3K and AKT and the phosphatase PTEN. This review will summarize some of the key animal models that have helped us understand this signaling network and its contribution to tumorigenesis. Recently, great advances in cancer mouse models have been achieved [1]. While germline deletion often Read More

Metastasis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. The molecular mechanisms that control metastasis are related to alterations in various oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, metastasis suppressor genes, and growth factors and their receptors. These abnormalities affect the downstream signal transduction pathways involved in the control of cell growth and other malignant properties. Read More

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a developmental and cancer predisposing syndrome resulting from haploinsufficiency or alteration in neurofibromin, a multifunctional protein that acts in various signaling pathways affecting morphogenetic processes and cell proliferation. Neurofibromin deficiency deregulates Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK and Ras/PI3K/AKT/PKB/mTOR signaling networks and intersected pathways inclu Read More

Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) family of proteins are ubiquitous molecular chaperones that are involved in folding, activation, maturation and assembly of many proteins that include essential mediators of signal transduction and cell cycle progression. They are abundant in eukaryotic cells and localized to the cytoplasm, mitochondria as well as the endoplasmic reticulum under normal conditions, making up 1-2% of all cellul Read More