Current Signal Transduction Therapy - Volume 6, Issue 1, 2011

The journal Current Signal Transduction Therapy will start its 6th year in 2011 and in the past five years it has become a very important forum for signaling related pathomechanisms and drug discovery issues. As we have pointed out earlier the general concept of the journal is to describe molecular pathomechanisms and signal transduction therapy with special emphasis on concepts as “targeted therapies”, “network signa Read More

Treating different cancers is a major challenge nowadays. Several molecules on the cell surface, in the cell particles and genes, can be targets to inhibit the growth of cancerous cells or to stop metastatic processes. Different small molecules are in the focus of newly targeted therapy areas. Cytoplasmatic skeleton structure as well as apparently expressed mitotic regulators can be targets in tumour therapy. Angiogenesis is es Read More

Leptin is a peptide hormone secreted by adipose tissue which is primarily involved in the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure. Apart from the brain, leptin receptors are expressed in many peripheral tissues. Plasma leptin concentration is markedly increased in most patients with obesity/metabolic syndrome reflecting greater amount of adipose tissue and resistance to anorectic effect of this hormone. Recent studi Read More

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is a cytokine involved in cell proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, angiogenesis, cell adhesion, migration, extracellular matrix deposition, wound healing and immune regulation. The cellular response to TGF-β depends on the cell type and cell microenvironment. TGF-β supresses tumor growth in the early phase of neoplasia, while promotes tumor progression and metastasis in Read More

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a downstream mediator of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt (protein kinase B) signaling pathway which regulates cell survival and proliferation. mTOR is a highly conserved serine/threonine protein kinase involved in the contol of cell growth, protein synthesis, and cell cycle progression. The importance of the mTOR pathway has stimulated the development of pharma Read More

TACC2 is a member of the transforming acidic coiled-coil-containing protein family and is associated with the centrosome-spindle apparatus during cell cycling. In vivo, the TACC2 gene is expressed in various splice forms predominantly in postmitotic tissues, including heart, muscle, kidney, and brain. Recent work has shown that members of this family, including TACC2, may be involved in the progression of certain solid tumours Read More

The serine/threonine kinase Akt (PKB) is activated in response to growth factors, cytokines and other growth promoting stimuli and is involved in the regulation of a number of cellular processes including metabolism, cell growth, proliferation and survival. To study intracellular metabolic effects of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) induced by chronic aortic banding in a recently established swine model, protein arrays can Read More

Dystroglycan (DG) is a ubiquitous membrane-spanning cell adhesion molecule and forms a crucial link between the extracellular matrix (ECM) and actin cytoskeleton. DG is composed of two proteins α- and β- DG which are encoded by a single gene. It was originally identified as the extracellular and transmembrane constituents of a large oligomeric complex of sarcolemmal proteins associated with dystrophin, the protein product Read More

In order to evaluate the role of translational regulator pathways between p70 S6 kinase (S6K), S6 ribosomal protein (S6) and eIF4E binding protein 1 (4E-BP1) in the development of neurons, we analyzed their phosphorylated status in embryo, fetus and adult murine tissues, and compared neurons with the other types of cells. Phosphorylated 4EBP1 was abundantly present in all kinds of tissues during the entire course of de Read More

Cellular protein kinases (PKs) have critical roles in regulating the hallmarks of cancer (autonomous cell growth, resistance to antigrowth signals, unlimited replication, neoangiogenesis, tissue invasion and metastasis). Consequently, a strong rationale drives those therapeutic strategies aimed at targeting PKs to achieve tumour regression. Haematological malignancies have been at the forefront in this field of investigation, as Read More

The recognition that the BCR-ABL gene and corresponding protein with deregulated tyrosine kinase (TK) activity is crucial for malignant transformation in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), led to the synthesis of the smallmolecule drugs designed to interfere with BCR-ABL TK activation. The first tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) was imatinib mesylate, introduced into clinical practice in 1998, which became the first choice dru Read More

Growth Arrest Specific1 (Gas1) is a protein expressed during development and when cells arrest their growth. The potential of Gas1 as an adjuvant in the treatment of cancer, and its role as a tumor suppressor have also been proposed. We had previously demonstrated the structural relationship between Gas1 and the α receptors for the Glial-cell line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF) family of ligands, and showed t Read More

Many cellular processes are regulated by the reversible reaction of protein phosphorylation on serine, threonine and tyrosine residues. Deregulation of the signal transduction cascade upsets this well-balanced system and has been implicated in many diseases, including cancer. Identification of the proteins and post-translational modifications (PTMs) involved in the breakdown of certain cell signaling pathways pro Read More