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Abstract #21960 Published in IGR 10-4
Neuroprotection: VEGF, IL-6, and clusterin: The dark side of the moon
Pucci S; Mazzarelli P; Missiroli F; Regine F; Ricci FProgress in Brain Research 2008; 173: 555-573
Growth factors and their respective receptors are key regulators in development and homeostasis of the nervous system, and changes in the function, expression, or downstream signaling of growth factors are involved in many neuropathological disorders. Recently, research has yielded a rich harvest of information about molecules and gene, and currently the assumption 'a gene-a protein', where each gene encodes the structure of a single protein, is becoming a paradox. In the past years, the discovery of synergic or antagonistic proteins deriving from the same gene is a novelty upsetting. In some way, the conventional function of proteins involved in DNA repair, cell death/growth induction, vascularization, and metabolism is inhibited or shifted toward other pathways by soluble mediators that orchestrate such change depending on the microenvironment conditions. In this study, we focus on the antithetic properties that proteins could exert, depending on the microenvironment that orchestrates the complex networks among proteins and their respective partners.
Dr. S. Pucci, Department of Biopathology, Institute of Anatomic Pathology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy. sabinapuc@yahoo.it
