title: Nucleoside diphosphate kinases in mammalian signal transduction systems: recent development and perspective.
abstract: The role of nucleoside diphosphate (NDP) kinase with special reference to mammalian signal transduction systems was described. The interaction between NDP kinases and G proteins was reevaluated in view of their protein structural information and its significance was extended further on the basis of recent findings obtained with small molecular weight G proteins such as Rad, menin, and Rac. Meanwhile, observations suggesting involvement of NDP kinases in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation led to the realization that NDP kinases may play a crucial role in receptor tyrosine kinase signal transduction systems. In fact, a number of experimental results, particularly obtained with PC12 cells, implicate that NDP kinases appear to regulate differentiation marker proteins and cell-cycle-associated proteins cooperatively. Consequently, we propose a hypothesis that NDP kinases might act like a molecular switch to determine the cell fate toward proliferation or differentiation in response to environmental signals.
authors.affiliation: Cellular Signaling Research Group, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, 35-2 Sakaecho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-0015, Japan. nkimura@tmig.or.jp
authors.forename: Narimichi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Nobuko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishijima
authors.forename: Mitsugu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Yohko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: Naoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology*; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000502:physiology*; D005812:Genes, Switch / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D009701:Nucleoside-Diphosphate Kinase / Q000378:metabolism*; D016716:PC12 Cells; D051381:Rats; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D020932:Nerve Growth Factor; D009701:Nucleoside-Diphosphate Kinase; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins