Interferons (IFNs) are pleiotropic cytokines that mediate anti-viral responses, inhibit proliferation and participate in immune surveillance and tumor suppression by inducing the transcription of a number of IFN-stimulated genes. The IFN family includes two main classes of related cytokines, type ...

There are two families of transcription factors that play pivotal roles during mammalian skeletal muscle differentiation. One of them includes MyoD family proteins (also called myogenic regulatory factors or MRFs), with four members Myf5, Myogenic differentiation 1 (MYOD), Myogenin (MYOG), ...

Guanine nucleotide binding protein (G-proteins) are heterotrimeric signaling molecules composed of three subunits, alpha, beta, and gamma, which dissociate receptor-induced exchange on the alpha subunit and beta/gamma heterodimer subunit. The G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) initiate diverse ...

VEGF family of ligands and receptors is crucial for vascular development and neovascularization in physiological and pathological processes in both embryo and adult. VEGFR-2 is a high-affinity receptor for VEGF-A. Activated VEGFR-2 can activate p38 MAPK, PI3K reg class IA/ ...

Myocyte enhancer factors 2 (MEF2) is a family of muscle-enriched transcription factors that have an essential role in myogenesis. In addition, MEF2 is also expressed at high levels in neurons and lymphocytes, where it serves as a regulator of neuronal and immune cell differentiation ...

Efficient and coordinated synthesis of the second messengers, including Inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3), Diacylglycerol (DAG), and Phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PI(3,4,5)P3), is necessary for normal cell functioning. Production of secondary messengers is regulated ...

The integrin family of transmembrane adhesion receptors mediates both cell-cell and cell- extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion. One important, rapid and reversible mechanism for regulating adhesion is increasing the affinity of integrin receptors for their extracellular ligands (integrin activation). ...

Human eosinophils are key effector cells implicated in a number of chronic inflammatory reactions, associated with bronchial asthma, allergic-inflammatory diseases and parasitic infections. Chemoattractants/chemokines, generated at the affected sites, promote migration of eosinophils from vasculature ...