The logic of TGFbeta signaling.

Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, P.O. Box 116, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA. j-massague@ski.mskcc.org

The identification of the TGFbeta cytokine signaling pathway, including membrane receptor serine/threonine kinases and Smad transcription factors as their substrates, has allowed the delineation of a process for conversion of these signals into programs of gene activation and repression that underlie critical cell fate and developmental decisions. The deconstruction of one of these responses - the cell cycle arrest response - into its elemental molecular parts has shed light into the mechanisms used by tumors to evade surveillance and cause metastasis.

PMID: 16678165 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]