Cellular conference call: external feedback affects cell-fate decisions.
Cells often need to respond to multiple opposing signals simultaneously. In this issue of Cell, it is shown that challenging cells with multiple extracellular signals induces an external feedback that involves the release of and response to additional secreted factors with antagonistic functions. These results suggest that an individual cell's decision to die or survive is not wholly independent but depends, at least in part, on feedback from its neighbors.
Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Alexander
A
Loewer
Galit
G
Lahav
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor / Q000502:physiology; D025461:Feedback, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D048069:Tumor Necrosis Factors / Q000502:physiology
D048069:Tumor Necrosis Factors; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor