Cellular Signaling In Health And Disease

In today’s world, three great classes of non-infectious diseases – the metabolic syndromes (such as type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis), the cancers, and the neurodegenerative disorders – have risen to the fore. These diseases, all associated with increasing age of an individual, have proven to be remarkably complex and difficult to treat. This is because, in large measure, when the cellular signaling pathways responsible for maintaining homeostasis and health of the body become dysregulated, they generate equally stable disease states. As a result the body may respond positively to a drug, but only for a while and then revert back to the disease state. Cellular Signaling in Health and Disease summarizes our current understanding of these regulatory networks in the healthy and diseased states, showing which molecular components might be prime targets for drug interventions. This is accomplished by presenting models that explain in mechanistic, molecular detail how a particular part of the cellular signaling web operates properly in health and improperly in disease. The stability of the health- and disease-associated states is dynamic and supported by multiple feedback loops acting positively and negatively along with linkages between pathways. During the past few years an ongoing series of important discoveries have been made that advance our understanding of how the body works and may guide us on how to better deal with these diseases. These include the discovery of chronic inflammation as a causal factor in all of these disease classes, the appearance of reactive oxygen species as a messenger molecule that can act both positively and negatively, the propensity of proteins to misfold into aggregation- and disease-prone forms, and the rise of epigenetics including the emergence of small non-coding RNA with important regulatory functions out of the so-called junk RNA. Chapters are devoted to each of these classes of findings with additional details integrated into the chapters dealing directly with the diseases. The connections responsible for maintaining stability are explored in depth.

In recent years, powered by evolving technologies and experimental design, studies have better illuminated the regulating role of proteolytic enzymes across human development and pathologies. Proteolytic Signaling in Health and Disease provides an in-depth discussion of fundamental physiological and developmental processes regulated by proteases, from protein turnover and autophagy to antigen processing and presentation and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. Moving on from basic biology, international chapter authors examine a range of pathological conditions associated with proteolysis, including inflammation, wound healing, and cancer. Later chapters discuss the newly discovered network of connected events among proteases (and their inhibitors), the so-called ‘protease web’, and how best to study it. This book also empowers new research with up-to-date analytical methods and step-by-step protocols for studying proteolytic signaling events. Examines biological events triggered by proteolytic enzyme activity across human development and pathologies Discusses the role of proteolytic signaling in inflammation, wound healing, and cancer, among other disease types Features methods and protocols supporting further study of proteolytic signaling events Includes chapter contributions from international leaders in the field

A consequence of rapid progress in the science of nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics is the substantial accumulation of data covering nutrienal modulation of gene expression at the cellular and subcellular levels. Current research is increasingly focused on the role of nutrition and diet in modifying oxidative damage in the progression of disease. Die

This contributed volume focuses on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and explores the ways in which signaling mechanisms at the biochemical, molecular, and cellular levels in the blood vessels (vascular) and heart contribute to the underlying causes of development and progression of the CVDs. This volume covers unique topics such as oxidant signaling in vascular and heart diseases and health, cytoskeletal signaling in vascular health and disease, phospholipase signaling in CVDs, lipid signaling in vascular and myocardial health and diseases, and drug discovery in cellular signaling for cardiovascular diseases. This book assembles the most important discoveries made by leaders on the cellular signaling mechanisms operating behind the development and progression of life-threatening CVDs. It is an extremely useful resource for the investigators in the field of CVDs, and opens the discussion for further discovery of efficient management and effective treatment of the CVDs.

Cellular Signal Processing offers a unifying view of cell signaling based on the concept that protein interactions act as sophisticated data processing networks that govern intracellular and extracellular communication. It is intended for use in signal transduction courses for undergraduate and graduate students working in biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, and pharmacology, as well as medical students. The text is organized by three key topics central to signal transduction: the protein network, its energy supply, and its evolution. It covers all important aspects of cell signaling, ranging from prokaryotic signal transduction to neuronal signaling, and also highlights the clinical aspects of cell signaling in health and disease. This new edition includes expanded coverage of prokaryotes, as well as content on new developments in systems biology, epigenetics, redox signaling, and small, non-coding RNA signaling.

This volume of Advances Anatomy Embryology and Cell Biology focuses on the emerging field of bio-image informatics, presenting novel and exciting ways of handling and interpreting large image data sets. A collection of focused reviews written by key players in the field highlights the major directions and provides an excellent reference work for both young and experienced researchers.

Cooperation requires conversation. Human beings speak to one another. Sounds, scents, and postures allow animals to make their point. While individual cells can't talk, hiss, growl, or bare their teeth, they nevertheless communicate regularly. Their language is based not on words or gestures, but on chemistry â€"using molecules where we would use words, constructing sentences from chains of proteins. The cells that make up the bodies of muticellular organisms inform, wheedle, command, exhort, reassure, nurture, criticize, and instruct each other to direct every physiological function, report every newsworthy event, record every memory, heal every wound. And each of those chemical conversations represents an opportunity for scientists and physicians. The molecular biologists who worked for over a decade to sequence the human genome have sometimes referred to that sequence as the "book of life." To our cells, that "book" is no more than a dictionaryâ€"only living cells can converse, forming the network that allows our 60 trillion cells to function as a single organism. For nearly a century, researchers have been straining to hear the whispered conversations among cells, hoping to master the basics of their language. They know that if we can decipher and translate this cellular chatter, we have the potential for sending signals of our own that could repair wounds, reduce cholesterol, control insulin levels, or even block the reproduction of cancer cells. The possibilities are as endless as they are intriguing. The Language of Life is a fantastic story of discovery, blending the vision of science with the poetry of life itself.

Cellular Signal Processing offers a unifying view of cell signaling based on the concept that protein interactions act as sophisticated data processing networks that govern intracellular and extracellular communication. It is intended for use in signal transduction courses for undergraduate and graduate students working in biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, and pharmacology, as well as medical students. The text is organized by three key topics central to signal transduction: the protein network, its energy supply, and its evolution. It covers all important aspects of cell signaling, ranging from prokaryotic signal transduction to neuronal signaling, and also highlights the clinical aspects of cell signaling in health and disease. This new edition includes expanded coverage of prokaryotes, as well as content on new developments in systems biology, epigenetics, redox signaling, and small, non-coding RNA signaling.

Keynote speakers at the cell signaling meeting in Luxembourg have provided chapters on hypoxia signal transduction, phosphoserine/threonine-binding domains, targeting of polycomb repressive complexes, conserved signaling mechanisms in innate immunity, and signal transduction by stress-activated MAP kinases. Other topics included among these reports on recent research are receptor signaling, protein kinase cascades as therapeutic targets, cell death in cancer, inflammation-specific signaling, cell signaling pathways leading to regulated chromatin modifications, and transcriptional control. The chapters have been published in four volumes (Part A to D), offering a comprehensive overview about this exciting topic. This third volume focuses on the therapeutic potential for targeting cell signaling mechanisms with particular attention to cell signaling in healthy systems as well as in disease. Cancer therapies and the important area of chemoprevention are included. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member