TGF-β Signaling
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Box 582, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biomolecules 2020, 10(3), 487; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom10030487
Received: 18 February 2020
/
Revised: 19 March 2020
/
Accepted: 20 March 2020
/
Published: 23 March 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue TGF-Beta Signaling in Physiology and Pathology)
Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) represents an evolutionarily conserved family of secreted polypeptide factors that regulate many aspects of physiological embryogenesis and adult tissue homeostasis. The TGF-β family members are also involved in pathophysiological mechanisms that underlie many diseases. Although the family comprises many factors, which exhibit cell type-specific and developmental stage-dependent biological actions, they all signal via conserved signaling pathways. The signaling mechanisms of the TGF-β family are controlled at the extracellular level, where ligand secretion, deposition to the extracellular matrix and activation prior to signaling play important roles. At the plasma membrane level, TGF-βs associate with receptor kinases that mediate phosphorylation-dependent signaling to downstream mediators, mainly the SMAD proteins, and mediate oligomerization-dependent signaling to ubiquitin ligases and intracellular protein kinases. The interplay between SMADs and other signaling proteins mediate regulatory signals that control expression of target genes, RNA processing at multiple levels, mRNA translation and nuclear or cytoplasmic protein regulation. This article emphasizes signaling mechanisms and the importance of biochemical control in executing biological functions by the prototype member of the family, TGF-β.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
extracellular matrix; phosphorylation; receptor serine/threonine kinase; signal transduction; SMAD; transcription; transforming growth factor-β; ubiquitylation
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Tzavlaki, K.; Moustakas, A. TGF-β Signaling. Biomolecules 2020, 10, 487. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom10030487
AMA Style
Tzavlaki K, Moustakas A. TGF-β Signaling. Biomolecules. 2020; 10(3):487. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom10030487
Chicago/Turabian StyleTzavlaki, Kalliopi, and Aristidis Moustakas. 2020. "TGF-β Signaling" Biomolecules 10, no. 3: 487. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom10030487
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
