Biology Of Growth Factors

Growth factors are elaborated to control the growth of cells in such physiological processes as wound healing, tissue regeneration and the immune response. Abnormal production of these growth factors, their receptors or intracellular med!ators of their action may lead to disease states including oncogenesis. This volume will focus on exciting developments in defining the precise molecular lesions that permit the conversion of controlled proliferative signals to neoplasia, on the possible involvement of growth factors in the development of blood vessel diseases as seen in diabetes and atherosclerosis, on the altered immune surveillance that leads to autoimmunity and on the fundamental mechanisms by which growth factors signal their target cells. We expect that the contents of this volume will help promote understanding of the role of these fundamental biological processes and their alterations in a wide variety of disease states and stimulate new investi gations in this important area of biomedical research. The Editors v CONTENTS PERSPECTIVES ON THE CONTROL OF GROWTH AND DIFFERENTIATION Perspectives on the Biology of Growth Factors . . . •. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • I. B. Fritz Platelet-Derived Growth Factor- Its Role in Health and Disease. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 R. Ross and E. W. Raines Molecular and Developmental Biology Aspects of Fibroblast Growth Factor. • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 23 D. Gospodarowicz Chemical and Biochemical Properties of Human Angiogenin. . . . . . . . . . 41 B. L. Vallee and J. F. Riordan GROWTH FACTOR - ONCOGENE RELATIONSHIPS Structure - Function Relationships in Cellular and Viral fps/fes Cytoplasmic Protein-Tyrosine Kinases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 T. Pawson. P. Greer, M. Moran, K.

The Novartis Foundation Series is a popular collection of the proceedings from Novartis Foundation Symposia, in which groups of leading scientists from a range of topics across biology, chemistry and medicine assembled to present papers and discuss results. The Novartis Foundation, originally known as the Ciba Foundation, is well known to scientists and clinicians around the world.

This two-volume treatise, the collected effort of more than 50 authors, represents the first comprehensive survey of the chemistry and biology of the set of molecules known as peptide growth factors. Although there have been many symposia on this topic, and numerous publications of reviews dealing with selected subsets of growth factors, the entire field has never been covered in a single treatise. It is essential to do this at the present time, as the number of journal articles on peptide growth factors now makes it almost impossible for anyone person to stay informed on this subject by reading the primary literature. At the same time it is becoming increasingly apparent that these of universal importance in biology and medicine and that the substances are original classification of these molecules, based on the laboratory setting of their discovery, as "growth factors," "lymphokines," "cytokines," or "colony stimulating factors," was quite artifactual; they are in fact the basis of a com mon language for intercellular communication. As a set they affect essentially every cell in the body, and in this regard they provide the basis to develop a unified science of cell biology, germane to all of biomedical research. This treatise is divided into four main sections. After three introductory chapters, its principal focus is the detailed description of each of the major peptide growth factors in 26 individual chapters.

The Twelfth Annual Washington Spring Symposium on Health Sciences attracted over 300 scientists from 20 countries. It was held at the Lisner Auditorium of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. during June 1-5, 1992. The theme of the meeting was "Growth Factors, Peptides, and Receptors," and speakers emphasized both basic and clinical research in these areas. The seven plenary sessions emphasized Peptides, Growth Factors, Peptide Receptors, Growth Factor Receptors, Second Messengers, Proliferation, and Clinical Correlations. The chapters in this volume are derived from each of these scientific sessions plus the poster and special sessions. The Abraham White Distinguished Scientist Award was presented to Dr. Solomon H. Snyder for his numerous contributions to the field of neurochemistry. He presented the keynote address "Nitric Oxide: A Novel Neuronal Messenger." Dr. Snyder discussed the pathway of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis by the enzyme NO synthase. Released NO may be responsible for the neuronal toxicity associated with NMDA, an excitatory amino acid analogue. Dr. Snyder noted that NO may be the first of a new class of transmitters, with carbon monoxide being another candidate. The Distinguished Public Service Award was presented to Senator Fritz Hollings in of his leadership and outstanding achievements in the United States Senate recognition and for his legislative support for biomedical research and education. In the symposium banquet address, Senator Hollings stressed the need for continued support of research to combat serious diseases such as cancer.

This new volume of the renowned serial Current Topics in Developmental Biology covers the important features of growth factors in development. With an international board of authors, this volume will be invaluable for researchers in cell, developmental and molecular biology. Provides researchers an overview and synthesis of the latest research findings and contemporary thought in the area This volume provides an up-to-date and timely perspective

The fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family of ligands and the corresponding family of FGF receptor tyrosine kinases comprise one of the most versatile and diverse growth factor signaling families in vertebrates, found virtually in every tissue and cell type where they regulate metabolic and physiologic function, maintain tissue homeostasis, and mediate injury response, tissue repair, and regeneration. As a result, FGFs play critical roles in a wide variety of normal biological and abnormalities in FGF signaling can lead to a variety of disease states from developmental malformations, to atherosclerosis, pulmonary hypertension and cancer among many others. A thorough understanding of this system is necessary for critical insights into both normal and disease biology and is essential to development of rationale therapeutic strategies aimed at treatment of FGF-dependent diseases states. Recent years have seen advances in our understanding of FGFs role in endothelial and, more general, vascular biology, the subject of this book. In particular, FGFs have been implicated in the maintenance of vascular homeostasis and control of blood vessel permeability while aberrant FGF signaling has been shown to be central to the development of pulmonary hypertension, and endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition, a process implicated in the development of atherosclerosis. Finally, FGFs ability to stimulate blood vessel growth has been explored in therapeutic angiogenesis approaches. With this in mind, the present monograph is structured to provide comprehensive information to a reader interested in FGFs in general and vascular biology in particular. To this end, we explore everything from the structure and signaling of FGFs and their receptors (Chapters 1, 2 and 3) to their role in the regulation of vascular homeostasis (Chapter 4) and cardiovascular diseases (Chapters 5 and 6). We then address new developments in FGF therapeutics (chapter 7) and explore FGF biology in the epithelium (Chapter 8) thereby providing a complete analysis of this growth factor family biology in two closely related but distinctly different environments — endothelium and epithelium. Finally, we examine FGF biology in eye disease and in cancer. It is our hope that this comprehensive treatment of FGF vascular biology and its application will provide the reader with the accurate and timely summary of this rapidly moving field.

This volume addresses a fundamental puzzle in biology and medicine, namely, how does tissue develop, repair and replace itself. The answer appears to lie in growth factors and their regulation. To thrive and survive we need growth factors and this book concentrates on two factors that are related to growth hormone. Growth hormone does not act directly on all tissues, but mediates many of its actions through the release of insulin-like growth factors from the liver. The growth factors were originally called somatomedins by McConaghey and Sledge (1), who discovered that they mediated growth-like effects of growth hormone. However, the factors were purified on the basis of their insulinomimetic actions on fat and muscle and it is their relationship to the insulin family of pep tides that now gives them their name (2,3) of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs). They mediate the actions of. growth hormone on the proteoglycan synthesis of cartilage and produce mitogenic effects in fibroblast cultures.

Leading international experts contribute to this selection of reviews covering the merging fields of growth factors, differentiation factors, and cytokines. These appear to play fundamental roles in a wide variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes that include the regulation of growth in normal and malignant cells, embryogenesis, the immune response, wound healing, inflammation, and atherogenesis. The major aspects of recent research and development are discussed, providing an important update in this pioneering field.