Neuregulins as Potential Drugs for Neurological Disorders
- M.A. Marchionni1,
- C.J. Kirk1,
- I.J. Isaacs1,
- C.J. Hoban1,
- N.K. Mahanthappa1,
- E.S. Anton2,
- C. Chen1,
- F. Wason1,
- D. Lawson1,
- F.P.T. Hamers3,
- P.D. Canoll4,
- R. Reynolds5,
- B. Cannella6,
- D. Meun1,
- W.F. Holt1,
- W.D. Matthew2,
- L.-E. Chen7,
- W.H. Gispen3,
- C.S. Raine6,
- J.L. Salzer4, and
- D.I. Gwynne1
- 1Cambridge NeuroScience, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts 01239; 2Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710; 3Division of Molecular Neurobiology, University of Utrecht, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands; 4Department of Cell Biology, New York University Medical School, New York, New York 10016; 5Department of Anatomy, Charing Cross and Westminster College, London W68RF, United Kingdom; 6Department of Pathology (Neuropathology), Albert Einstein Medical College, Bronx, New York 10461; 7Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
Neurological disorders affect the principal functions of neural cells. Imbalances in electrical or metabolic activity, or aberrant regulation of cellular survival, proliferation, and differentiation can result in a variety of neurological deficits. Many lines of evidence drawn from developmental biology, genetics, and pharmacology support the concept that signaling via peptide growth factors and receptor tyrosine kinases regulates numerous essential neural cell functions. Thus, neurotrophic growth factors have potential to become drugs for treatment of neurological disorders. Indeed, several growth factors currently are being evaluated in clinical trials for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, peripheral neuropathies, and multiple sclerosis (Hefti 1994).
One growth factor signaling system receiving growing attention is that involving the neuregulins and the neuregulin receptors erbB2, erbB3, and erbB4 (for review, see Caraway and Burden 1995; Lemke 1996). As growth factors, neuregulins have deep roots in neurobiology. The discovery and purification of soluble Schwann cell mitogens (glial growth factor, [GGF];...
