The mammalian mitogen activated protein kinase network

摘要

The families of MAP kinases cascades (mitogen activated protein kinases) form major signalling systems by which cells transduce extracellular signals into cellular responses. Studying the regulation of these MAP kinase signalling pathways is of utmost importance in the understanding of the triggering of cell proliferation versus cell differentiation and the responses of the cell to stress or osmotic factors. This review will describe in detail the archetypal MAP kinase cascade (Raf-MEK-ERK); it will present the more recently discovered MAP kinase cascades (SAPK and p38) and provide some indications on the regulation of this network of signalling pathways.