title: Semaphorins: green light for redox signaling?
abstract: How semaphorins stimulate plexins to regulate axon steering is an actively investigated question. Ventura and Pelicci discuss new evidence indicating that MICAL, a putative monoxygenase, transmits the signal from the receptor plexin to the actin cytoskeleton through a redox mechanism. MICAL could act either indirectly, causing a local increase in the concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS), or directly, inducing redox changes in downstream effectors, such as actin and members of the Rho and Rac family of guanosine triphosphatases. Because semaphorin-plexin signaling plays a role in a number of clinically relevant settings, including recovery from spinal cord trauma, regulation of the immune system, and cancer metastasis, these findings could have important therapeutic implications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ventura
authors.forename: Pier Giuseppe
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Pelicci
mesh_terms: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D000818:Animals; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000502:physiology; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D060588:LIM Domain Proteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010105:Oxygenases / Q000502:physiology; D039961:Semaphorins / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D000096985:Calponins
chemical_list: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D060588:LIM Domain Proteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D010105:Oxygenases; D039961:Semaphorins; C091529:plexin; C455272:MICAL1 protein, human; D000096985:Calponins; C020066:dimethylaniline monooxygenase (N-oxide forming)