Dependence receptors: between life and death.
The recently described family of dependence receptors is a new family of functionally related receptors. These proteins have little sequence similarity but display the common feature of inducing two completely opposite intracellular signals depending on ligand availability: in the presence of ligand, these receptors transduce a positive signal leading to survival, differentiation or migration, while in the absence of ligand, the receptors initiate or amplify a negative signal for apoptosis. Thus, cells that express these proteins manifest a state of dependence on their respective ligands. The mechanisms that trigger cell death induction in the absence of ligand are in large part unknown, but typically require cleavage by specific caspases. In this review we will present the proposed mechanisms for cell death induction by these receptors and their potential function in nervous system development and regulation of tumorigenesis.
Apoptosis/Differentiation Laboratory, Equipe labelisée La Ligue, Molecular and Cellular Genetic Center, CNRS UMR 5534, University of Lyon, 69622, Villeurbanne, France. mehlen@univ-lyon1.fr
P
P
Mehlen
C
C
Thibert
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D020169:Caspases / Q000502:physiology; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology; D002642:Chick Embryo; D005810:Multigene Family; D009420:Nervous System / Q000196:embryology / Q000473:pathology; D009424:Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; D020800:Receptor, Nerve Growth Factor; D017475:Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
D020800:Receptor, Nerve Growth Factor; D017475:Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor; D020169:Caspases