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.
 | Blocking NF-κB activation: Good CARMA
Two papers published in Nature Immunology look set to increase our understanding of T-cell signaling, by showing that CARMA1 is essential for mediating TCR-induced NF-κB activation.
27 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature Immunology 3, 830 - 835, (September 2002) |
 | Plant development: Minimizing DET problems
Joanne Chory and colleagues provide insights into the function of DET1 by isolating suppressors of the det1 phenotype.
27 September 2002
Original research paper: Science 297, 405 - 409, (2002) |
 | In brief: September 2002
Signal Transduction | T-cell development | Asthma | Therapeutics | Evo–Devo | Synaptic plasticity | Computational chemistry |
 | Cell cycle:
Cyclin' around
A study published in Nature raises doubts about the importance of Clb5 in regulating mitotic exit.
27 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature 418, 556 - 562, (2002) |
 | Lymphocyte signalling: Isoform isolated
B-cell receptor and T-cell receptor signaling is impaired in p110d-mutant mice, indicating that p110d has a specific role in immunity.
27 September 2002
Original research paper: Science 296, 1655 - 1657, (July 18 2002) |
 | T-Cell Signalling:
The way of CARMA
Together, two new papers advance our understanding of T-cell receptor signaling. They indicate that CARMA1 has an essential and specific role in TCR-mediated NF-?B activation, recruiting BCL10 to the TCR in rafts and allowing the activation of BCL10 by PKC.
27 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature Immunol. (August 5 2002) |
 | Developmental biology: Limbs make progress
Two Nature papers question the validity of the progress zone (PZ) model of vertebrate limb development, and shed new light on the cellular events that occur during this process.
27 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature 418, 501 - 508, (2002) |
 | Development: Tlc for the telencephalon
New discoveries indicate that studying the role of Wnt antagonism could put us on track to elucidate the molecular basis of telencephalic induction.
27 September 2002
Original research paper: Neuron 35, 255 - 265, (2002) |
 | Modelling: Stability from bistability
Koulakov et al. present a new model of an integrator circuit that, unlike previous models, does not require precise tuning of synaptic strengths for stability.
27 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature Neurosci. (22 July 2002) |
 | Transcription factors: FOXO3a helps ease the stress
New research by Geert Kops et al. published in this week's Nature provides a mechanistic explanation of how quiescent cells that lack protein kinase B activity are protected from apoptosis caused by oxidative stress.
20 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature 419, 316 - 321, (19 September 2002) |
 | Protein Sorting: ESCRTs needed
Two studies provide valuable insights into the molecular machinery used for MVB sorting, and have enabled the authors to propose a model for the sorting of ubiquitylated cargo.
20 September 2002
Original research paper: Dev. Cell 3, 271 - 282, (2002) |
 | Cytoskeleton: Space invaders
Research from Marc Kirschner's laboratory provides an explanation of how Rac and the adaptor protein Nck activate actin nucleation.
20 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature 418, 790 - 793, (2002) |
 | Innate immunity: An off-switch for TLR signalling
Richard Flavell's group report that Interleukin-1-receptor-associated kinase M is a negative regulator of Toll-like receptor signalling.
20 September 2002
Original research paper: Cell 110, 191 - 202, (2002) |
 | Apoptosis: FLIP-side
Cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein — a caspase homologue thought to be an inhibitor of death-receptor-mediated apoptosis — is actually an activator of apoptosis, making it an attractive target for therapies seeking to inhibit or promote death-receptor-mediated cell death.
20 September 2002
Original research paper: EMBO J. 21, 3704 - 3714, (2002) |
 | Apoptosis: Assembly blocked
New work reports a direct role for CD28 in preventing Fas-mediated apoptosis, by activating protein kinase B/Akt and preventing the assembly of the death-inducing signaling complex.
20 September 2002
Original research paper: J. Exp. Med. 196, 335 - 348, (2002) |
 | Therapeutics: Stop signals
The anti-ERBB2 monoclonal antibody, 2C4, shows great promise as a therapeutic agent against two different cancer types — one of which is particularly difficult to treat.
20 September 2002
Original research paper: Cancer Cell 2, 127 - 137, (2002) |
 | Target validation: Target for the modern-day ills?
Borowsky et al. report in Nature Medicine that antagonists of MCHR1 — one of the two G-protein-coupled receptors that mediate the effects of MCH — might have promise not only in the management of obesity, but also as a treatment for depression and anxiety.
20 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature Med. AOP,
(15 July 2002) |
 | Another Notch in the belt for Ras-transformed cells
New research in this month's Nature Medicine identifies Notch signaling as a key downstream effector of oncogenic Ras, making it a possible target for the development of novel antineoplastic agents.
13 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature Medicine 8, 979 - 986, (September 2002) |
 | Transcription: Competing forces
Data published in Molecular Cell supports a model whereby transcription factors and epigenetic silencing are integrated quantitatively to control cell differentiation.
13 September 2002
Original research paper: Mol. Cell 10, 81 - 91, (2002) |
 | Signal transduction: Master switch
Smad3-SARA and homotrimeric-Smad3 interactions are competing and mutually exclusive.
13 September 2002
Original research paper: Genes Dev. 16,
1950 - 1963, (2002) |
 | T Cells: TCR docking
Results reported in Nature indicate that TCR binding is a two-step process, in which initial docking on the MHC molecule is essentially a peptide-independent process.
13 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature 418, 552 - 556, (2002) |
 | Tumorigenesis: Hang on tight!
H. pylori bacteria infect the gastric mucosa and can lead to cancer. They show increasing resistance to antibiotics, but BabA and SabA proteins may be able to step in as potential components of a gastric cancer vaccine.
13 September 2002
Original research paper: Science 297, 573 - 578, (2002) |
 | Angiogenesis: Endostatin and Wnt signalling
Does endostatin modulate the Wnt pathway? Experiments by Hanai et al. now show that endostatin inhibits ß-catenin activity.
13 September 2002
Original research paper: J. Cell Biol. 158, 529 - 539, (2002) |
 | Visual processing: Seeing stars
Just how do ganglion cells in the retina detect the direction of motion of a visual image?
13 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature (4 August 2002) |
 | Antipsychotics: How Goldilocks is partial to dopamine receptors
Milinoff and colleagues looked at the interactions of aripiprazole, a next-generation atypical antipsychotic drug, with the recombinant human dopamine D2 receptor, D2L. Their studies report that aripiprazole shows characteristics of a partial agonist in binding-affinity and cyclic-AMP-accumulation studies.
13 September 2002
Original research paper: J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 302, 381 - 389, (2002) |
 | Oxidized phospolipids and the immune system: Responding to sepsis
New findings may open up the way for the development of pharmaceutical drugs that use the products of oxidized phosopholids to treat sepsis caused by Gram-negative bacteria.
6 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature 419, 77 - 81, (5 September 2002) |
 | Signal Transduction: Patched for pumping
Evidence from Phil Beachy's lab points to Ptc being a transmembrane molecular transporter that indirectly inhibits Smo.
6 September 2002
Original research paper: Nature 418, 892 - 897, (2002) |
 | HIV: Raft required for entry
Results now show that the partitioning of CD4 to rafts is required for HIV-1 entry, and establishes that HIV-1 exploits rafts as host-cell entry sites.
6 September 2002
Original research paper: J. Exp. Med. 196, 293 - 301, (2002) |
 | B-Cell Development: BLIMP1, BCL6 and B-cell fate
Recent work has enabled the genes that are targeted by BLIMP1 and BCL6 to be identified, and has provided an insight into how they interact to control terminal B-cell differentiation.
6 September 2002
Original research paper: Immunity 17, 51 - 62, (2002) |
 | Oncogenes: One small step for mankind...
New results show that aberrant expression of JUN is involved in human cancer. This finding should strengthen the argument for the development of therapeutics that target this transcription factor.
6 September 2002
Original research paper: EMBO J. 21, 4104 - 4113, (2002) |
 | Immunogenetics: C. elegans — an innate choice?
New results show that the p38 MAPK pathway is required for innate responses to pathogen infection — and is of importance because this signaling pathway is crucially required in mammals for both inflammatory and innate–immune response pathways.
6 September 2002
Original research paper: Science 297, 623 - 626, (2002) |
 | Ion channels: In search of the 'mystery messenger'
Evidence now suggests that the consumption of phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) is central to M channel regulation.
6 September 2002
Original research paper: Neuron 35, 507 - 520, (2002) |
 | Obesity: Adipocyte metabolism
Together, two papers have begun to unravel the complex control of adipocyte proliferation and insulin signaling in adipocyte cells — and how this process leads to obesity and other metabolic syndromes.
6 September 2002
Original research paper: Dev. Cell 3, 863 - 876, (2002) |
