Current Signal Transduction Therapy - Volume 7, Issue 1, 2012

Current Signal Transduction Therapy will start its 7th year in 2012 and in the past years this journal has had a very important contribution to our understanding the molecular pathomechanisms of various signaling related diseases including cancer, CNS diseases, various inflammatory and circulatory disease. It is generally accepted now that most of the molecular pathomechanisms result from intra- or intercellular commu Read More

I am deeply grateful to professors Axel Ullrich and Gyorgy Keri that they trusted me to produce this ‘hot topic’ special issue about ‘Astrocytic Signal Transduction in CNS Disease and Therapy’. I am equally grateful to the nine contributors, not only for their excellent papers, but also for their effort and ability to meet the strict deadline, so that the issue will be timely published, as promised by the Publisher. Finally, a big thank you to Read More

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary tumour of the central nervous system. The outcome after standard therapy, consisting of resection, radiation and chemotherapy, is poor: median survival is 40 to 60 weeks, with the tumour often recurring only a few millimetres away from the original location after gross total resection. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is amplified and ove Read More

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by demyelinating lesions disseminated throughout the central nervous system, and a progressive axonal degeneration. In this review we propose that an impaired cAMP signaling in white mater astrocytes, caused by a deficiency of β2-adrenergic receptors, may play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Reduced astrocytic cAMP signaling may, in a proinflammatory environme Read More

Astrocytes are the most abundant cells in the brain and play an important role in the homeostasis and maintenance of the brain. Furthermore, astrocytes play a key role in brain protection and in functional recovery from injuries. Impairment in astrocytes activity may promote neurodegeneration and, eventually, retraction of neuronal synapses, which leads to cognitive deficits found in neurodegenrative disease Read More

Astrocytes, the most abundant cells of the CNS are believed to play vital roles in brain development and functioning, providing trophic support to neurons and eliciting CNS responses to pathogens/injury. During HIV infection of the CNS, glial activation and infection play major roles in generating the immune activation, a process which, in turn, leads to release of neurotoxic mediators (viral and cellular). Accompanying Read More

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a common clinical complication in patients with severe liver disease. While the pathogenesis of HE is incompletely understood, ammonia has been strongly implicated as an important etiological factor, and astrocytes appear to be the primary target of its neurotoxicity. In addition to ammonia, infection and inflammation have increasingly been implicated in the pathogenesis of HE. Nuclear f Read More

The Lund project (1992) recommended treatment with clonidine (α2-adrenergic agonist) and metoprolol (β1-adrenergic antagonist) to improve recovery after brain trauma, and discouraged use of the V1 agonist vasopressin (ADH). Brain effects of these drugs and the ability of a post-traumatic elevation of extracellular K+ concentrations ([K+]o) to activate mechanism(s) leading to secondary cytotoxic (cellular) edema Read More

Functional sensitization and structural plasticity in the nociceptive pathways and modulatory networks in the peripheral and central nervous system develop following tissue and nerve injury and result in persistent or chronic pain, a major challenge to clinical management. Development of novel analgesic drugs requires a better understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying persistent pain. Research during t Read More

When fluoxetine, the first of the presently used serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), was approved in 1987, two effects of the drug had been established: inhibition of serotonin reuptake by the serotonin transporter (SERT), and partial displacement of serotonin binding to cultured astrocytes, which have no SERT expression. At that time astrocytes were generally assumed to be unimportant for brain function. Accor Read More

There are two well-defined neurogenic regions in the adult brain, the subventricular zone (SVZ) lining the lateral wall of the lateral ventricles and, the subgranular zone (SGZ) in the dentate gyrus at the hippocampus. Within these neurogenic regions, there are neural stem cells with astrocytic characteristics, which actively respond to the basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF, FGF2 or FGF-β) by increasing their proliferation, survi Read More