These short, accessible 'Highlights' summarize and contextualize must-read papers related to cell signaling. These articles add background and context to summaries of primary research. 'In brief' articles emphasize key aspects of selected articles.
 | GENOMIC INSTABILITY:
Defective division
Meraldi et al. have reported that centrosome amplification is a consequence of, rather than a cause of, defective division.
26 April 2002 |
 | DRUG RESISTANCE:
Unable to resist
A new approach has been developed to predict which patients will become reistant to ABL inhibitor STI-571 - a drug used to treat leukaemia - before it is even taken by the patient.
26 April 2002 |
 | In brief: April 2002
Ion Channels | Tumour Suppressors | Signalling | T-cell Development | Immune Regulation | Cancer | Viral Infection | Adhesion | Sumoylation | Cell Signalling |
 | TUMOUR REGRESSION:
RAS, the magician
Can HRAS kill cells by a mechanism distinct from apoptosis?
26 April 2002 |
 | KINASE INHIBITORS:
Pocket remedy
Regan and colleagues have found a highly potent and selective inhibitor that, instead of targeting the ATP-binding site, forms a new allosteric binding pocket.
19 April 2002 |
 | OBESITY:
Mighty Mouse: forever fat-free?
Mice that have an increased muscle mass - due to loss of the negative regulator of muscle growth known as myostatin - also show a reduction in fat accumulation and abnormal glucose metabolism.
19 April 2002 |
 | PLANT DEVELOPMENT:
Cues for germination
Phosphorylation, not degradation, might be the key to regulating ?-catenin's activity.
19 April 2002 |
 | DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY:
dHand in hand with Gli3
New work shows that patterning in vertebrate limb formation results from a mutual antagonism between two transcription factors, and that this interaction participates in positioning the Shh/Fgf signalling feedback loop.
19 April 2002 |
 | THYMOCYTE DEVELOPMENT:
Hazardous waste disposal
A new report details the essential role of the pro-apoptotic BH3-only Bcl-2 family member, known as Bim, in the negative selection of autoreactive thymocytes.
12 April 2002 |
 | T-CELL ACTIVATION:
WIPped into shape
Anton and colleages have found that WIP is crucial for the integrity of the actin cytoskeleton in T and B cells, and is essential for T-cell, but not B-cell, activation.
12 April 2002 |
 | IMMUNE REGULATION:
A balanced response
Antigen-stimulated B-cell migration seems to be governed by the balance of responses to the T-cell-zone chemokines CCL19 and CCL21, and the B-cell-zone chemokine CXCL13.
12 April 2002 |
 | LYMPHOCYTE SIGNALLING:
Adapting B-cell responses
There is now indication that the recently discovered B-cell adaptor Bcap has a pivotal regulatory role.
12 April 2002 |
 | VIRAL IMMUNITY:
IFN-? embargo
In some individuals, infection with HIV induces the secretion of TGF-ß1 by CD+8+ T cells, which inhibits the antiviral IFN-? response.
12 April 2002 |
 | ADHESION:
Rap around cells
Research now indicates that Rap1 may regulate apical cell-cell adhesion.
5 April 2002 |
 | T-CELL SIGNALLING:
A chicken or egg situation
New data has come to light that challenges current thinking by indicating that TCR-mediated signalling occurs before mature synapses form.
5 April 2002 |
 | MEMBRANE TRANSPORT:
One-way street
Gruenberg and co-workers have concluded that membrane lipid composition affects the regulation of the Rab7 cycle, and that Rab7, in turn, controls the net movement of late endocytic compartments.
5 April 2002 |
 | G-PROTEIN-COUPLED RECEPTORS:
Orphan's pain
Lembo et al. describe how they have reunited one group of orphan GPCRs with their ligands, and uncovered a new receptor system that might be important as a potential target for analgesia.
5 April 2002 |
 | DEVELOPMENT:
Crowning glory
The discovery of a new signaling molecule by Tsuda et al. indicates that there may be a few surprises in store about the signalling pathways involved in neural tube patterning.
5 April 2002 |
