Hippo信号通路生物学作用研究进展

Hippo信号通路是20世纪末在黑腹果蝇中进行基因筛选时发现的,该通路受各种生化、物理和结构信号的影响,调控细胞生长、分化,组织和器官发育以及内环境稳态等基本生物学过程。研究表明Hippo信号通路失调会引起一系列疾病的发生。本文阐述了目前Hippo信号通路在胚胎发育、器官和组织稳态调节、肿瘤的发生发展和细胞自噬等一系列生物学过程以及靶向治疗中的研究进展,其中Hippo信号通路通过细胞自噬来维持机体细胞内环境稳态成为新的研究热点。对该通路的功能和调控机制的深入研究也为组织器官修复再生医学及癌症治疗提供参考。     

2013国际基质生物学与疾病研讨会会议纪要

<正>基质生物学旨在探讨细胞外基质蛋白与细胞间的相互作用。基质蛋白构成了体内维持细胞稳态的生物微环境,调控包括细胞识别、分化、粘附、增殖、迁移、衰老、凋亡等诸多生物学行为。其组成多样,彼此互相结合,呈动态变化,在疾病的不同时段表现为网络调控的异常。影响到基质的支撑、巢穴、屏障、信息汇聚和传递功能,再引起细胞表型和组织结构的变化,最后产生病理形态和组织器官的损伤,而引起各种人类重大疾病。它们是多种人类重大疾病发生和发展的一个最重要的病生理基础,亦是诊断和防治疾病的重要的生物标记物和靶分子,亦是研发新药物的重要靶点和目标。     

炎性单核细胞促进乳腺癌转移的分子机制

癌症患者的最大威胁来自肿瘤的转移,若能控制肿瘤的转移,癌症对人类的最大威胁就会消除,也就是癌症可作为一种慢性疾病来治疗。如何控制癌症的转移?这成为癌症研究和治疗的中心问题。以前对肿瘤的转移研究主要集中在肿瘤细胞本身,现在看来这是不够的,目前已经把研究的目光转移到肿瘤的生态环境或微环境。人们已经知道肿瘤的发生和生长是由多种细胞、因子和外界因素协同作用而产生的,它生存在一个非常复杂的生态坏境(即     

合成生物学驱动功能细胞的精准设计与疾病诊疗

合成生物学是依据工程化的设计思路,通过人工精准设计一些功能化元器件和模块,旨在创造具有新型功能的新生物体。利用合成生物学手段人工合成的功能细胞可以精确调控细胞的行为,为传统医疗无法治愈的疾病提供了新的诊治策略。目前,在哺乳动物细胞合成生物学领域,人们设计、构建了多种可控的功能细胞用于诊断和治疗代谢疾病、癌症、免疫系统疾病等。主要介绍人工精准构建功能化细胞的研究进展及其在智能诊疗糖尿病、肿瘤等重大疾病中的应用。同时,探讨功能化细胞在临床疾病治疗中的挑战和发展前景。     

细胞凋亡的结构生物学研究进展

在多细胞生物体内,细胞会发生编程性死亡(即细胞凋亡),使得细胞数量得到精确调控。细胞凋亡调控的异常与癌症、自身免疫病、神经退行性疾病等疾病密切相关。在过去的二十年里,人们详细地研究了参与细胞凋亡调控的分子机制。该文综述了近年来利用结构生物学手段,对参与细胞凋亡调控的分子,主要是Caspase和与Caspase活性调控直接相关的蛋白功能的研究进展。     

AMOT家族成员的功能研究及在癌症治疗中的潜在应用

AMOT是一种血管生成抑制素的结合蛋白。AMOT家族(AMOTs)成员参与调控细胞增殖、细胞迁移、血管生成、病毒释放等重要的细胞生物学过程。AMOTs在多数癌细胞中表达,并参与癌症的发生和进程。现有证据表明AMOTs在癌症进程中扮演双重角色,既是癌症促进因子,也是癌症抑制因子。AMOTs在癌症中的这种双重调控机制尚且存在争议。重点阐明了AMOTs的结构特征、表达定位、翻译后修饰和生物学功能,系统概述了AMOTs在癌症中的研究现状及治疗潜力,讨论了通过AMOTs治疗癌症的可能性和面临的挑战。     

JAK/STAT信号通路及其对昆虫免疫的调控

JAK/STAT信号通路参与细胞的生长、分化、凋亡和免疫调节等重要的生物学过程,是细胞因子介导的最重要的信号转导途径之一。在昆虫中,JAK/STAT是一条相对保守的信号途径,与Toll途径和Imd途径共同作为主要免疫途径以抵御病原物入侵,在昆虫免疫、激素调控和其他生理调节过程中发挥着十分重要的作用。本文介绍了细胞因子受体超家族、JAKs家族、STATs家族和JAK/STAT信号通路及其负反馈调节的作用机制,分析了寄生物、病毒和真菌感染昆虫时,JAK/STAT信号通路的重要功能及最新研究进展,并提出了JAK/STAT信号通路研究中尚待解决的问题,以期为该领域后续深入研究提供方向和参考。     

植物虫瘿

虫瘿是造瘿昆虫诱导植物组织不正常生长产生的,它们通过释放某些酶或者植物激素刺激寄主植物细胞增大或增殖产生了特异形态的虫瘿,而这种特异形态就是造瘿昆虫遗传基因的体外表达。但虫瘿产生的分子机制不是十分清楚,文章主要对目前植物虫瘿的形态特征、形成机制等方面进行综述。     

昆虫飞行肌细胞凋亡的分子生物学研究进展

细胞凋亡是多细胞生物体内由激素刺激,基因调控,蛋白调节的一个主动的程序化死亡过程,对生物体特定组织功能的发生、发展、衰老及退化等具有重要作用。而昆虫飞行肌细胞凋亡对昆虫迁飞行为尤为重要,它直接决定迁飞性昆虫能否选择更适宜的寄主植物和生活条件,进而影响到对农作物的危害地域和严重程度。本文在近年来昆虫细胞凋亡的研究基础上,从分子生物学的角度,综述了调控昆虫飞行肌细胞凋亡的相关基因和蛋白质的研究进展,探讨了昆虫飞行肌细胞凋亡发生与调控的分子生物学机制。     

乙酰化修饰对人非组蛋白稳定性调控功能的最新进展

乙酰化修饰是一种广泛存在于生物体中的可逆性蛋白质翻译后修饰方式,主要发生于蛋白质赖氨酸残基的侧链NH2基团上,最早在组蛋白中发现。乙酰化修饰主要通过修饰组蛋白影响细胞的染色质结构以及激活细胞核内转录因子,从基因组水平来调控细胞的生命活动。随着乙酰化修饰检测技术和生物学研究的发展,发现乙酰化修饰也大量存在于非组蛋白中,并调控蛋白质的功能,进而影响多种生物学过程。其中,乙酰化修饰可以调控非组蛋白的稳定性,使其在细胞中更加稳定和持久地存在,这种调控机制在细胞的生长和分化等过程中具有重要作用,并影响多种疾病的发生发展。该文介绍了乙酰化修饰及其主要的生物学功能,系统总结了乙酰化修饰对人非组蛋白稳定性调控的机制与功能的影响,并介绍了乙酰化修饰调控蛋白质稳定性对疾病发生发展的作用,有助于解析疾病的发生机制,为疾病的治疗提供新的思路和方法。     

The "Gab" in signal transduction

Tyrosine phosphorylation plays an important role in controlling cellular growth, differentiation and function. Abnormal regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation can result in human diseases such as cancer. A major challenge of signal transduction research is to determine how the initial activation of protein-tyrosine kinases (PTKs) by extracellular stimuli triggers multiple downstream signaling cascades, which ultimately elicit diverse cellular responses. Recent studies reveal that members of the Gab/Dos subfamily of scaffolding adaptor proteins (hereafter, "Gab proteins") play a crucial role in transmitting key signals that control cell growth, differentiation and function from multiple receptors. Here, we review the structure, mechanism of action and function of these interesting molecules in normal biology and disease.     

Biology of cancer: some questions to answer

Though great advances in cancer biology have taken place through these years, some fundamental questions are still to be explained. Some observations in this regard are discussed in the present paper. In the course of experimental studies on hormonal stimulation of target cells, it was observed that goat granulosa cells showed differential proliferative response to sustained stimulation by oLH and hCG in culture. oLH caused cells to proliferate whereas hCG failed to stimulate the cells though both the gonadotropins have common receptors on the target cell. Further studies might throw some light on the mechanism of signal transduction in cell biology and neoplasia. A question is also posed as to how to interpret thermodynamically the sustained growth of cancer vis-a-vis the host.     

L1 and NCAM adhesion molecules as signaling coreceptors in neuronal migration and process outgrowth

Neural cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) of the immunoglobulin superfamily engage in multiple neuronal interactions that influence cell migration, axonal and dendritic projection, and synaptic targeting. Their downstream signal transduction events specify whether a cell moves or projects axons and dendrites to targets in the brain. Many of the diverse functions of CAMs are brought about through homophilic and heterophilic interactions with other cell surface receptors. An emerging concept is that CAMs act as coreceptors to assist in intracellular signal transduction, and to provide cytoskeletal linkage necessary for cell and growth cone motility. Here we will focus on new discoveries that have revealed novel coreceptor functions for the best-understood CAMs--L1, CHL1, and NCAM--important for neuronal migration and axon guidance. We will also discuss how dysregulation of CAMs may also bear on neuropsychiatric disease and cancer.     

Signalling mechanisms of RhoGTPase regulation by the heterotrimeric G proteins G12 and G13

G protein-mediated signal transduction can transduce signals from a large variety of extracellular stimuli into cells and is the most widely used mechanism for cell communication at the membrane. The RhoGTPase family has been well established as key regulators of cell growth, differentiation and cell shape changes. Among G protein-mediated signal transduction, G12/13-mediated signalling is one mechanism to regulate RhoGTPase activity in response to extracellular stimuli. The alpha subunits of G12 or G13 have been shown to interact with members of the RH domain containing guanine nucleotide exchange factors for Rho (RH-RhoGEF) family of proteins to directly connect G protein-mediated signalling and RhoGTPase signalling. The G12/13-RH-RhoGEF signalling mechanism is well conserved over species and is involved in critical steps for cell physiology and disease conditions, including embryonic development, oncogenesis and cancer metastasis. In this review, we will summarize current progress on this important signalling mechanism.     

Pinning down cell signaling, cancer and Alzheimer's disease

Protein phosphorylation on certain serine or threonine residues preceding proline (Ser/Thr-Pro) is a pivitol signaling mechanism in diverse cellular processes and its deregulation can lead to human disease. However, little is known about how these phosphorylation events actually control cell signaling. Pin1 is a highly conserved enzyme that isomerizes only the phosphorylated Ser/Thr-Pro bonds in certain proteins, thereby inducing conformational changes. Recent results indicate that such conformational changes following phosphorylation are a novel signaling mechanism pivotal in regulating many cellular functions. This mechanism also offers new insights into the pathogenesis and treatment of human disease, most notably cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Thus, Pin1 plays a key role in linking signal transduction to the pathogenesis of cancer and Alzheimer's disease - two major age-related diseases.     

Notch信号途径的调节

Notch信号途径是通过局部细胞间相互作用,实现细胞间通讯、胞浆内的信号转导以及核内转录,从而控制细胞的增殖、分化、凋亡、迁移及粘附等细胞的命运的途径。它在进化中非常保守,在机体的整个生长发育过程的调控中发挥着重要的作用。Notch信号途径作用过程受其他多种分子和途径的调节。本文从细胞外水平、细胞浆水平和细胞核水平分别讨论了Notch信号途径的调节。对进一步了解Notch信号途径,解释生理病理现象、控制和治疗疾病提供基础。     

白介素6的信号转导及其相关疾病的治疗策略

IL-6是一种多功能的细胞因子, 同时IL-6的过度表达与一些疾病的发生和发展有密切关系.IL-6通过一个双链受体系统作用于靶细胞.实验结果表明,IL-6与80 ku的配基结合链IL-6R和信号转导子gp130构成一个相互作用的异六聚体模式,通过gp130的二聚体化引发胞内的信号转导.IL-6胞内的信号转导途径有两种:Jak-STATs路径和Ras-MAPK级联反应路径.靶向IL-6信号转导的药物设计和筛选研究将为IL-6相关疾病的治疗奠定坚实的基础.