TGFbeta Signalling: a Complex Web in Cancer Progression

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Cancer

Specialty Oncology

Date 2010 May 25

PMID 20495575

Citations 612

Authors

Hiroaki Ikushima

Kohei Miyazono

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The distortion of growth factor signalling is the most important prerequisite in tumour progression. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGFbeta) signalling regulates tumour progression by a tumour cell-autonomous mechanism or through tumour-stroma interaction, and has either a tumour-suppressing or tumour-promoting function depending on cellular context. Such inherent complexity of TGFbeta signalling results in arduous, but promising, assignments for developing therapeutic strategies against malignant tumours. As numerous cellular context-dependent factors tightly maintain the balance of TGFbeta signalling and contribute to the regulation of TGFbeta-induced cell responses, in this Review we discuss how they maintain the balance of TGFbeta signalling and how their collapse leads to tumour progression.

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