title: Alternative signaling pathways: when, where and why?
abstract: Alternative cell signal transduction pathways have been demonstrated in some experimental systems. The importance of their existence has not been completely appreciated. In this review we present the cases of alternative pathways resulted from a survey of the available experimental data. The alternative pathways could show different relationships, i.e., synergistic, redundant, additive, opposite and competitive effects. They could have distinct time courses and cell, organ, sex or species specification. Further, they could happen during physiological or pathological situations, and display differentiated sensitivity. These case studies together imply that alternative signal pathways could be involved in the regulation of cell functions at the pathway level. In-depth understanding of the importance of the alternative pathways will rely on building and exploration of mathematical models.
authors.affiliation: Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto 112 College, Canada. ygong@bioknowledge.org
authors.forename: Yunchen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Zhaolei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015398:Signal Transduction