M Merino Marisa, Gonzalez-Gaitan Marcos
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Trends Cell Biol. 2023 Feb;33(2):92-94. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2022.09.003. Epub 2022 Oct 11.
The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-type morphogens are conserved throughout the animal kingdom. TGF-β-type molecules form spatial concentration gradients whose length scales with the size of growing, developing organs. Scaling of these morphogens can also be mediated by death, adjusting the size of the tissue to the range of the gradient. Death-mediated scaling might provide a molecular toolbox exploited by cancer cells.
转化生长因子-β（TGF-β）型形态发生素在整个动物界都是保守的。TGF-β型分子形成空间浓度梯度，其长度与生长发育器官的大小成比例。这些形态发生素的缩放也可以通过细胞死亡来介导，从而将组织大小调整到梯度范围内。由细胞死亡介导的缩放可能为癌细胞提供了一个可利用的分子工具箱。
