Ch. 5: Growth Factors, Receptors, and Cancers Flashcards
signal transduction
- is generally the
transmission of a molecular signal outside of a cell to the inside of a cell. - A way for cells to communicate with
each other. - One cell can produce a ligand which causes a neighboring cell to have a
response.
What do multicellular organisms need to do to divide?
need to talk with each other to decide if a cell needs to divide
What determines division in single cellular organisms?
the decision
to divide is largely dependent upon the
availability of nutrients. If there are adequate nutrients the cells will sense this and divide.
What determines division in multi-cellular organisms?
The decision
to divide is largely dependent upon
signals by nearby cells. Therefore, a cell only divides when it is good for the organism as a whole
What are growth factors?
secreted proteins that are able to stimulate cell
division/growth/proliferation by binding to a specific cell surface receptor
Example of growth factor?
wound healing
- Various growth factors are released into the blood serum as a result
of platelets aggregation/clotting-
PDGF
EGF
TGFB1
VEGF
IGF
FGF2
- Act on diverse cell types to help tissue reconstruction.
- Proliferation of multiple different cell types needs to be coordinated.
Platelet Derived Growth Factor (PDGF) does what in a culture?
activates fibroblasts
What do normal fibroblasts need to grow?
- cannot grow on a dish with just nutrients
- need to be grown with growth factors to stimulate cell division
What does PDGF do?
stimulate cell migration and division
Scratch assay
- Take a pipette tip and scratch away a line of cells in a dish.
- Wait 48 hours, see if cells were able to migrate and divide and fill in that empty space.
Summarize the results of scratch assay on slide 11
PDGF and a working receptor are needed for cells to migrate and divide enough to fill the gap
What is the first step in signal transduction?
Growth factor receptors
EGF
epidermal growth factor
3 domains of EGF?
- extracellular (ectodomain)
- transmembrane
- cytoplasmic domain
SRC
oncogenic gene of Rous Sarcoma Virus
- also a protein kinase
- phosphorylates proteins on the amino acid tyrosine
What does EGF have on its intracellular domain?
tyrosine kinase domain
Structure of EGF receptor
- extracellular domain - binds specific ligands (growth factors)
- trans-membrane domain
- intracellular domain- can phosphorylate protein targets
Significance of EGF structure?
Offers a method for extracellular growth factor to communicate with the interior of a cell.
Growth factor receptors are…
receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK)
RTK
Generally, RTK are used for signals that induce cell division.
A variety of different downstream
changes occur from RTK?
- Cell division
- Change in cell shape
- Cell survival
- Cell metabolism
- Cell motility- ability to migrate
What do growth factor receptors generally do upon ligand binding?
generally dimerize and transphosphorylate
What are growth factors and their receptors often involved in?
tumor pathogenesis
How are growth factors and their receptors
altered to become oncogenes?
- alteration of growth factor receptors
- change in protein structure
- change in cell type expressing ligand
- changes that cause dimerization
Example of alteration of growth factor receptors
Example- Loss of ligand binding domain in v-ErbB
(=HER2/NEU2/ERBB2) in AEV
- Loss of the ligand binding domain causes the intracellular tyrosine kinase domain to be constitutively
active (the intracellular kinase domain is continuously active without the presence of a growth factor).
This causes the cell to continuously be told to proliferate.
Change in protein structure: In a cancer cell, a mutation effecting
protein structure can
cause…
constitutive activation