Department of Otorinolaringoiatria, Foniatria e Audiologia "G. Ferreri", University of Rome "Sapienza", viale del Policlinico, 155 - 00185 Rome, Italy.
J Cell Commun Signal. 2010 Oct;4(3):115-7. doi: 10.1007/s12079-010-0091-1. Epub 2010 Jun 6.
For a complex organism, short range signalling is not sufficient to coordinate the behaviour of all cells composing itself. The response to stimuli is the reprogramming of cell activity (resulting in differentiation, proliferation, stand by or apoptosis depending on the set of signals). Cells own elaborate and complex systems of proteins that enable them to communicate, including both secreted signalling molecules and related factors, deriving from relic mechanisms. The intra and intercellular signalling are actively studied not only to comprehend the basic mechanisms that allowed the evolution of mammals species on earth, but also because the alteration of one or more of these pathways is recognized to be involved in a crescent number of human diseases, both degenerative and tumoural. That is, a growing body of evidences suggest that every human disease may be analyzed and classified by a "signalling disease" point of view. This approach opens new therapeutic perspectives, virtually amplifying for every single disease the number of therapeutic targets (in terms of both genes and proteins) to upstream and/or downstream, short and/or long distance proteins interacting with the altered molecule, thus individuating many other targets to which act upon.
对于复杂的生物体来说，短距离信号不足以协调组成自身的所有细胞的行为。对刺激的反应是细胞活动的重新编程（导致分化、增殖、待命或细胞凋亡，具体取决于信号的集合）。细胞拥有精细而复杂的蛋白质系统，使它们能够进行通讯，包括分泌的信号分子和相关因子，这些因子来源于遗留的机制。细胞内和细胞间的信号传递正在被积极研究，不仅是为了理解允许地球上哺乳动物物种进化的基本机制，还因为这些途径中的一个或多个的改变被认为与越来越多的人类疾病有关，包括退行性和肿瘤性疾病。也就是说，越来越多的证据表明，每一种人类疾病都可以通过“信号疾病”的观点来进行分析和分类。这种方法开辟了新的治疗前景，实际上为每一种疾病都增加了治疗靶点（就基因和蛋白质而言）的数量，这些靶点位于上游和/或下游、短距离和/或长距离的与改变的分子相互作用的蛋白质，从而确定了许多其他可以作用的靶点。
