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.
 | DNA Replication:
Converging pathways
Noc3 (nucleolar complex-associated protein) appears to be a new binding partner for ORC, and might also be involved in coordinating several cellular pathways.
30 August 2002 |
 | Process outgrowth:
All for one, one for all
Three papers on myelin proteins, including Nogo and MAG, bring some interesting results to light. Liu et al. and Domeniconi et al. report that MAG binds to NgR, and that this interaction mediates its inhibitory effect on axon outgrowth.
30 August 2002 |
 | In brief: August 2002
Immune responses | Innate immunity | HIV | Drug resistance | Oncogenesis | Development | Anticancer drugs |
 | Synaptic physiology:
From single lane to superhighway
Oertner et al. have taken a look at vesicles docked at the central synapse, using optical methods to measure release at a single synapse. Their data show that, contrary to the monovesicular model, several vesicles can simultaneously release their content from single active zones.
30 August 2002 |
 | Metastasis:
CAR problems
By examining coxsackie adenovirus cell-surface receptor expression levels in various tissue samples, Frank McCormick's group report that adenoviral gene therapy is likely to be most effective in treating prostate tumors after they have already become metastatic.
30 August 2002 |
 | Viral infections:
Exchange control
Disulphide exchange in one of the molecular domains of the CD4 molecule is required for entry of HIV-1 into T cells.
30 August 2002 |
 | Repair: The regeneration game
Studying how dorsal root ganglion neurons respond to peripheral damage may offer new ideas on how to overcome the poor regenerative capacity of axons in the central nervous system.
23 August 2002 |
 | Neural induction: Losing your nerve
Smad10, a newly identified Smad in Xenopus, is essential for the formation of the frog nervous system.
23 August 2002 |
 | Therapeutic strategies: Will I survive?
A new approach to cancer treatment — which involves giving low-dose paclitaxel, combined with a drug that inhibits survivin — can induce massive cell death and suppress tumor growth.
23 August 2002 |
 | Adrenoceptor pharmacology: How the ligand changed its spots
A demonstration that different G proteins might be able to induce ligands to reverse their actions at a single G-protein-coupled receptor suggests possibilities for targeted activation, or deactivation, of subsets of receptor populations.
23 August 2002 |
 | Anticancer drugs: Next in line?
Could inhibitors of FLT3 kinase be promising candidates for targeted treatment of acute myelogenous leukaemia?
23 August 2002 |
 | Proteolysis:
A new family
Martoglio and co-workers reaffirm the catalytic role of presenilin by reporting the identification of a new presenilin-like aspartic protease — human signal peptide peptidase.
16 August 2002 |
 | Apoptosis:
Clean debris
A report in Nature describes a fail-safe mechanism in apoptotic cells that avoids inflammation after secondary necrosis, in which apoptotic cells change the structure of their chromatin.
16 August 2002 |
 | Angiogenesis:
Barking up the wrong tree?
A study by Peter Carmeliet and colleagues reveals that Flt1 is a more important therapeutic target than previously believed.
16 August 2002 |
 | Prion proteins:
Protector prions
Mutations in the cellular prion protein, PrPC, or changes in conformation induced by the infective prion protein PrPSc, can cause spongiform encephalopathies such as scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.
16 August 2002 |
 | Sleep control:
Regular as clockwork
Are you awake? New research sheds light on how the neurons involved in circadian rhythm processes send time-dependent messages around the whole body.
16 August 2002 |
 | Therapeutics:
Right on target
David Cheresh and colleagues have destroyed tumors using a strategy of gene-delivery that blocks the endothelial signaling pathways required for new blood-vessel formation.
8 August 2002 |
 | Heat-shock proteins:
TNF in hot shocker
Libert and colleagues tested whether heat shock reduces some of the toxic effects of TNF as a cancer treatment, while retaining its efficacy - with interesting results.
8 August 2002 |
 | Natural killer cells:
A fine balance
Two studies show that Ly49H, an activating receptor, can bind m157, an MHC-like molecule, that is encoded by murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV).
8 August 2002 |
 | B Cells:
Staying power
Integrins 41 and L2 (also known as leukocyte function-associated antigen 1, LFA1) are essential for keeping marginal-zone B cells in their place.
8 August 2002 |
 | Phagocytosis:
'ER we go
So, just why did a proteomics study by Michel Desjardins and colleagues show that phagosomes contain several endoplasmic reticulum proteins?
8 August 2002 |
 | Neurodegenerative disorders:
The one-hundred faces of neuronal death
Three recent papers illustrate the different ways in which expanded polyglutamine stretches can lead to neurotoxicity.
8 August 2002 |
 | Oncogenesis:
A twist in the tale
Dean Felsher and colleagues show that by briefly inactivating c-MYC, a cell's response changes from promoting life to promoting death.
3 August 2002 |
 | RNA Interference:
Interfering with infection
Several labs have been interested in using RNAi to control viral infection. We are now witnessing the first fruits of this research, which offers the promise of antiviral therapy.
3 August 2002 |
 | Developmental biology:
Out on a limb
Perriton and colleagues show that external genitalia are patterned by signals that emanate specifically from the urethral epithelium, and that Sonic hedgehog has a key role in genital development.
3 August 2002 |
 | T-Cell signalling:
Conformational change
We all know how T-cell receptors (TCRs) initiate antigen-induced signal transduction - right?
3 August 2002 |
 | Hormone signalling:
A mystery unfolds
Chaperones might act more widely than previously thought, and could provide a general mechanism by which to disassemble transcriptional regulatory complexes.
3 August 2002 |
 | Cytoskeleton:
Meandering microtubules
Collapsin response-mediator protein-2 (CRMP-2) regulates axonal growth and branching by binding to tubulin heterodimers and promoting microtubule assembly.
3 August 2002 |
