title: Transmembrane helix-helix interactions involved in ErbB receptor signaling.
abstract: Among the many transmembrane receptor classes, the receptor tyrosine kinases represent an important superfamily, involved in many cellular processes like embryogenesis, development and cell division. Deregulation and dysfunctions of these receptors can lead to various forms of cancer and other diseases. Mostly, only fragmented knowledge exists about functioning of the entire receptors, and many studies have been performed on isolated receptor domains. In this review we focus on the function of the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases with a special emphasis on the role of the transmembrane domain and on the mechanisms underlying regulated and deregulated signaling. Many general aspects of ErbB receptor structure and function have been analyzed and described. All human ErbBs appear to form homo- and heterodimers within cellular membranes and the single transmembrane domain of the receptors is involved in dimerization. Additionally, only defined structures of the transmembrane helix dimer allows signaling of ErbB receptors.
authors.affiliation: Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ZBMZ, and Fakultät für Biologie, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cymer
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schneider
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases