J. Silvio Gutkind, Ph.D, Chief
Mission
Molecular mechanisms controlling normal and aberrant cell growth
There are many complex signaling steps between the initial triggering of cell surface receptors for mitogens and the final biological response. As subtle alterations in molecules involved in proliferative pathways can lead to unregulated cell growth, including cancer, it is believed that the complete elucidation of the mechanisms controlling cell proliferation and DNA-synthesis is central to understanding, and thus controlling, malignancy. Members of OPCB have focused on the basic molecular mechanisms underpinning communication between the membrane and the nucleus. This effort, together with those of other laboratories, has led to the identification of multiple kinase cascades connecting different types of cell surface receptors to key molecules, including nuclear transcription factors. Ongoing and future studies are expected to help elucidate how signals beginning at the level of the cell surface (growth factor receptors, antiproliferative receptors, cell-cell and cell-matrix contacts, environmental signals, etc.) are integrated in space and time to control the orderly progression through the cell cycle. This knowledge will ultimately be useful for understanding normal and aberrant cell growth, and for identifying novel targets for therapeutic intervention in neoplastic disease.
Personnel