This volume focuses on the relationship between the regulation of signal transduction and disease mechanisms, and discusses how the dysregulation of intracellular signals cause diseases, cell death, carcinogenesis, and other disorders. Growth, survival, transformation, and metabolic activities at the cellular level are regulated by various intracellular signal transduction pathways. Sources that stimulate intracellular signals include intracellular stresses and signal regulators/modulators, as well as extracellular growth factors. Recent studies on signal transduction analysis using animal and human cell lines have revealed how the intracellular signals are regulated and why their dysregulation leads to pathological states such as tumorigenesis, metabolic diseases, cell death, and so on. This book highlights several important key molecules and intracellular signaling pathways such as microRNA, the TGF-beta signaling pathway, the Wnt signaling pathway and MET signaling pathway as topical and highly relevant issues in human cell research related to signal transduction. In addition to assessing the pathogenic role of these signaling pathways, it focuses on the molecular design of small molecule regulators/inhibitors of said pathways, one of the most important approaches in this area. This book offers a valuable guide, helping not only research scientists but also clinicians to understand how the dysregulation of intracellular signals leads to diseases.

Calcium Entry Channels in Non-Excitable Cells focuses on methods of investigating the structure and function of non-voltage gated calcium channels. Each chapter presents important discoveries in calcium entry pathways, specifically dealing with the molecular identification of store-operated calcium channels which were reviewed by earlier volumes in the Methods in Signal Transduction series. Crystallographic and pharmacological approaches to the study of calcium channels of epithelial cells are also discussed. Calcium ion is a messenger in most cell types. Whereas voltage gated calcium channels have been studied extensively, the non-voltage gated calcium entry channel genes have only been identified relatively recently. The book will fill this important niche.

This book covers the past, present and future of the intra-cellular trafficking field, which has made a quantum leap in the last few decades. It details how the field has developed and evolved as well as examines future directions.

This comprehensive work provides detailed information on all known proteolytic enzymes to date. This two-volume set unveils new developments on proteolytic enzymes which are being investigatedin pharmaceutical research for such diseases as HIV, Hepatitis C, and the common cold. Volume I covers aspartic and metallo petidases while Volume II examines peptidases of cysteine, serine, threonine and unknown catalytic type. A CD-ROM accompanies the book containing fully searchable text, specialised scissile bond searches, 3-D color structures and much more.

The volumes in this authoritative series present a multidisciplinary approach to modeling and simulation of flows in the cardiovascular and ventilatory systems, especially multiscale modeling and coupled simulations. The cardiovascular and respiratory systems are tightly coupled, as their primary function is to supply oxygen to and remove carbon dioxide from the body's cells. Because physiological conduits have deformable and reactive walls, macroscopic flow behavior and prediction must be coupled to phenomenological models of nano- and microscopic events in a corrector scheme of regulated mechanisms when the vessel lumen caliber varies markedly. Therefore, investigation of flows of blood and air in physiological conduits requires an understanding of the biology, chemistry, and physics of these systems together with the mathematical tools to describe their functioning. Volume 4 is devoted to major sets of intracellular mediators that transmit signals upon stimulation of cell-surface receptors. Activation of signaling effectors triggers the release of substances stored in cellular organelles and/or gene transcription and protein synthesis. Complex stages of cell signaling can be studied using proper mathematical models, once the role of each component is carefully handled. Volume 4 also reviews various categories of cytosolic and/or nuclear mediators and illustrates some major signal transduction pathways, such as NFkappaB axis, oxygen sensing, and mechanotransduction.