Chen Ye-Guang, Wang Qiang, Lin Shi-Lung, Chang C Donald, Chuang Jody, Ying Shao-Yao
State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology, Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2006 May;231(5):534-44. doi: 10.1177/153537020623100507.
Activins, cytokine members of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily, have various effects on many physiological processes, including cell proliferation, cell death, metabolism, homeostasis, differentiation, immune responses endocrine function, etc. Activins interact with two structurally related serine/threonine kinase receptors, type I and type II, and initiate downstream signaling via Smads to regulate gene expression. Understanding how activin signaling is controlled extracellularly and intracellularly would not only lead to more complete understanding of cell growth and apoptosis, but would also provide the basis for therapeutic strategies to treat cancer and other related diseases. This review focuses on the recent progress on activin-receptor interactions, regulations of activin signaling by ligand-binding proteins, receptor-binding proteins, and nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of Smad proteins.
激活素是转化生长因子-β超家族的细胞因子成员，对许多生理过程具有多种作用，包括细胞增殖、细胞死亡、代谢、体内平衡、分化、免疫反应、内分泌功能等。激活素与两种结构相关的丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶受体（I型和II型）相互作用，并通过Smads启动下游信号传导以调节基因表达。了解激活素信号在细胞外和细胞内是如何被调控的，不仅能更全面地理解细胞生长和凋亡，还能为治疗癌症和其他相关疾病的治疗策略提供基础。本综述重点关注激活素-受体相互作用、配体结合蛋白、受体结合蛋白对激活素信号的调控以及Smad蛋白的核质穿梭方面的最新进展。
