Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

The development of a multicellular organism from the fertilized egg is the result of spatiotemporally orchestrated processes like cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, survival, and death. During evolution general strategies have evolved that allow coordination and tight control of such events over time and space:

Neuregulins (NRGs) comprise a large family of EGF-like signaling molecules that are involved in cell-cell communication during development as well as in the adult. They are primarily expressed in the nervous system, heart, mammary gland, intestine, and kidneys. Neuregulins transmit their signals to target cells by interacting with transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptors of the ErbB family. Receptor-ligand interaction activates intracellular signaling cascades that induce cellular responses including proliferation, migration, differentiation, and survival or apoptosis (Lemke 1996; Burden and Yarden 1997; Adlkofer and Lai 2000; Garratt et al. 2000a; Buonanno and Fischbach 2001; Yarden and Sliwkowski 2001; Citri et al. 2003; Falls 2003).

Neuregulins (NRGs) comprise a large family of EGF-like signaling molecules involved in cell-cell communication during development and disease. The neuregulin family of ligands has four members: NRG1, NRG2, NRG3, and NRG4. Relatively little is known about the biological functions of the NRG2, 3, and 4 proteins. In contrast, the NRG1 proteins have been demonstrated to play important roles during the development of the nervous system, heart, and mammary glands. For example, NRG1 has essential functions in the development of neural crest cells and some of their major derivatives, like Schwann cells and sympathetic neurons. NRG1 controls the trabeculation of the myocardial musculature and the ductal differentiation of the mammary epithelium. Moreover, there is emerging evidence for the involvement of NRG signals in the development and function of several other organ systems, and in human disease, including breast cancer and schizophrenia. Many different isoforms of the Neuregulin-1 gene are synthesized. Such isoforms differ in their tissue-specific expression patterns and their biological activities, thereby contributing to the great diversity of the in vivo functions of NRG1.