The transforming growth factor-beta family

J Massague - Annual review of cell biology, 1990 - annualreviews.org
Annual review of cell biology, 1990annualreviews.org
Secretory polypeptides a re broa dly used as media tors of intercellula r com· munica tion to
guide tissue development in metaz oa. A deca de a go, as the cha ra cteriza tion of va rious
mitogenic polypeptides a nd the isola tion oj scores of new ones were in progress, sea rches
were la unched to identif) novel fa ctors with a ctivities other tha n promotion of cell growth.
Some oj the fruitful sea rches led to the is ola tion of a promoter of a tra nsformed phenotype
in fibrobla sts, an inhibitor of cell prolifera tion, an inducer oj chondrogenic differentia tion, an …
Secretory polypeptides a re broa dly used as media tors of intercellula r com· munica tion to guide tissue development in metaz oa. A deca de a go, as the cha ra cteriza tion of va rious mitogenic polypeptides a nd the isola tion oj scores of new ones were in progress, sea rches were la unched to identif) novel fa ctors with a ctivities other tha n promotion of cell growth. Some oj the fruitful sea rches led to the is ola tion of a promoter of a tra nsformed phenotype in fibrobla sts, an inhibitor of cell prolifera tion, an inducer oj chondrogenic differentia tion, an inhibitor of myogenic differentia tion, a nd an immunosuppressor. It wa sa major surprise to find tha ta single fa cto I wa s responsible for a ll of these a ctivities. Tra nsforming gr owth fa ctor type-[3, or TGF-[3, beca me the conventiona l na me for this multifunctional fa ctor, even though this na me misrepresents the fa ct tha t TGF-[3 does not ca use oncogenic tra nsforma tion.
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