Towards an Understanding of Integrative Brain Functions

Neutrophin receptors: mediators of life and death

Moses Chao*, Patrizia Casaccia-Bonnefil, Bruce Carter, Alexandra Chittka, Haeyoung Kong, Sung Ok Yoon
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Cornell University Medical College, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA

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Abstract
The mechanism of action of NGF has continued to provide a challenging and formidable problem in signal transduction. NGF can bind independently to two different receptors, the trkA tyrosine kinase receptor and the p75 neurotophin receptor, which are involved in many different signaling events. In addition to promoting cell differentiation survival, NGF can paradoxically be an inducer of cell death. Several receptor mediated mechanisms are proposed to explain how NGF might act as a trophic factor and as a cell killer. The survival and cell death properties of the receptors are dependent upon the relative ratio of receptors and the persistent nature of the signaling events.

Corresponding author: mchao@med.cornell.edu

Brain Research Reviews 26 (1998) 295-301
Copyright © 1998 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved.