Takei Yoshinori, Laskey Ronald
Medical Research Council (MRC) Cancer Cell Unit, Hutchison/MRC Research Centre, Hills Road Cambridge CB2 0XZ, UK.
Trends Mol Med. 2008 Sep;14(9):381-8. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2008.07.002. Epub 2008 Aug 6.
Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a proinflammatory cytokine, whereas nerve growth factor (NGF) is a neurotrophin that can promote neural cell survival, differentiation and maturation. However, recent papers indicate that TNF-alpha has a pivotal role in fate decisions of neural cells in normal noninflammatory conditions, whereas NGF contributes to maintenance of inflammation. Although these observations suggest a close relationship between NGF and TNF-alpha signalling, crosstalk between these factors is not fully understood. In this Opinion article, we review recent reports regarding possible crosstalk between NGF and TNF-alpha and we propose a positive-feedback loop of their expression. We discuss the possible mechanisms by which disturbance of the crosstalk could contribute to diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）是一种促炎细胞因子，而神经生长因子（NGF）是一种神经营养因子，可促进神经细胞的存活、分化和成熟。然而，最近的论文表明，TNF-α在正常非炎症条件下神经细胞的命运决定中起关键作用，而NGF则有助于维持炎症。尽管这些观察结果表明NGF和TNF-α信号之间存在密切关系，但这些因子之间的相互作用尚未完全了解。在这篇观点文章中，我们回顾了关于NGF和TNF-α之间可能存在相互作用的最新报道，并提出了它们表达的正反馈回路。我们讨论了相互作用紊乱可能导致癌症和阿尔茨海默病等疾病的可能机制。
