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Journal ArticleDOI

Fibroblast growth factors, their receptors and signaling.

01 Sep 2000-Endocrine-related Cancer (Bioscientifica Ltd)-Vol. 7, Iss: 3, pp 165-197
TL;DR: FGF signaling also appears to play a role in tumor growth and angiogenesis, and autocrine FGF signaling may be particularly important in the progression of steroid hormone-dependent cancers to a hormone-independent state.
Abstract: Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are small polypeptide growth factors, all of whom share in common certain structural characteristics, and most of whom bind heparin avidly. Many FGFs contain signal peptides for secretion and are secreted into the extracellular environment, where theycan bind to the heparan-like glycosaminoglycans (HLGAGs) of the extracellular matrix (ECM). From this reservoir, FGFs mayact directlyon target cells, or theycan be released through digestion of the ECM or the activityof a carrier protein, a secreted FGF binding protein. FGFs bind specific receptor tyrosine kinases in the context of HLGAGs and this binding induces receptor dimerization and activation, ultimatelyresulting in the activation of various signal transduction cascades. Some FGFs are potent angiogenic factors and most playimportant roles in embry onic development and wound healing. FGF signaling also appears to playa role in tumor growth and angiogenesis, and autocrine FGF signaling maybe particularlyimportant in the progression of steroid hormone-dependent cancers to a hormone-independent state.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A greater understanding of the profound placebo effect, careful patient selection, and improved endpoint assessment are factors that need to be addressed in this rapidly evolving era of molecular therapeutics.

98 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Fibroblast growth factor receptors consist of four signaling family members and one nonsignaling "decoy" receptor, Fgfr-like 1 (Fgfrl1), all of which are expressed in the developing kidney.
Abstract: Fibroblast growth factor receptors (Fgfrs) consist of four signaling family members and one nonsignaling “decoy” receptor, Fgfr-like 1 (Fgfrl1), all of which are expressed in the developing kidney....

98 citations


Cites background from "Fibroblast growth factors, their re..."

  • ...Fgfrs have three external immunoglobulin-like (Ig-like) domains, a transmembrane (TM) domain, and an intracellular kinase domain (31) (Fig....

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  • ...Alternate splicing of C-terminal portions of the third Ig-like domains of Fgfrs1–3 results in IIIb or IIIc isoforms with different ligand specificities (Fgfr4 only has a IIIc isoform); in the context of embryonic development, Fgfr IIIb and IIIc isoforms have generally been felt to be expressed in and active in epithelium and mesenchyme, respectively (31) (Fig....

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  • ...Molecules, such as fibroblast growth factor receptor substrate 2 (Frs2 ) and phospholipase C (PLC ), transmit Fgfr signals via binding sites that are conserved across different receptor family members (31)....

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  • ...Fibroblast growth factor receptors (Fgfrs) are receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) with four signaling family members that have 22 known Fgf ligands in mammals (31)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The vertebrate fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) is alternatively spliced generating multiple splice variants that are differentially expressed during embryo development and in the adult body.
Abstract: The vertebrate fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) is alternatively spliced generating multiple splice variants that are differentially expressed during embryo development and in the adult body. The restricted expression patterns of FGFR1 isoforms, together with differential expression and binding of specific ligands, leads to activation of common FGFR1 signal transduction pathways, but may result in distinctively different biological responses as a result of differences in cellular context. FGFR1 isoforms are also present in the nucleus in complex with various fibroblast growth factors where they function to regulate transcription of target genes.

98 citations


Cites background from "Fibroblast growth factors, their re..."

  • ...…functions during embryo development and adult tissue homeostasis, including the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, wound healing, angiogenesis and malignant transformation as well as migration and neurite outgrowth (for reviews see Szebenyi and Fallon, 1999; Powers et al., 2000)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
21 Oct 2004-Oncogene
TL;DR: A central role for FGF2 signaling in the maintenance of cellular plasticity of ovary-derived cells throughout the carcinogenesis process is suggested, raising mechanistic hypotheses on EOC pathogenesis and progression that might provide a rational underpinning for new therapeutic modalities.
Abstract: Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the gynecological disease with the highest death rate. We applied an automatic class discovery procedure based on gene expression profiling to stages III-IV tumors to search for molecular signatures associated with the biological properties and progression of EOC. Using a complementary DNA microarray containing 4451 cancer-related, sequence-verified features, we identified a subset of EOC characterized by the expression of numerous genes related to the extracellular matrix (ECM) and its remodeling, along with elements of the fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) signaling pathway. A total of 10 genes were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and coexpression of FGF2 and fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 in tumor cells was revealed by immunohistochemistry, confirming the reliability of gene expression by cDNA microarray. Since the functional relationships among these genes clearly suggested involvement of the identified molecular signature in processes related to epithelial-stromal interactions and/or epithelial-mesenchymal cellular plasticity, we applied supervised learning analysis on ovarian-derived cell lines showing distinct cellular phenotypes in culture. This procedure enabled construction of a gene classifier able to discriminate mesenchymal-like from epithelial-like cells. Genes overexpressed in mesenchymal-like cells proved to match the FGF2 signaling and ECM molecular signature, as identified by unsupervised class discovery on advanced tumor samples. In vitro functional analysis of the cell plasticity classifier was carried out using two isogenic and immortalized cell lines derived from ovarian surface epithelium and displaying mesenchymal and epithelial morphology, respectively. The results indicated the autocrine, but not intracrine stimulation of mesenchymal conversion and cohort/scatter migration of cells by FGF2, suggesting a central role for FGF2 signaling in the maintenance of cellular plasticity of ovary-derived cells throughout the carcinogenesis process. These findings raise mechanistic hypotheses on EOC pathogenesis and progression that might provide a rational underpinning for new therapeutic modalities.

98 citations


Cites background from "Fibroblast growth factors, their re..."

  • ...Furthermore, alternative mRNA splicing leads to isoforms of FGFR that have unique ligand-binding properties (Powers et al., 2000)....

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  • ...The central role of FGF signaling is underlined not only by the results of our in vitro experiments but also by the large body of literature underscoring the multiple and pleiotropic effect of this conserved signaling pathway (Powers et al., 2000; Ornitz and Marie, 2002; Thiery 2002)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggested that activation of PKCδ and PKCϵ provide a negative regulation for Akt phosphorylation and kinase activity in mouse keratinocytes and serve as modulators of cell survival pathways in response to external stimuli.

98 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
22 Feb 1991-Cell
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that free heparin and heparan sulfate can reconstitute a low affinity receptor that is, in turn, required for the high affinity binding of bFGF.

2,448 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
16 Feb 1995-Nature
TL;DR: This work highlights conserved protein domains that act as key regulatory participants in many of these different signalling pathways in multicellular organisms.
Abstract: Communication between cells assumes particular importance in multicellular organisms. The growth, migration and differentiation of cells in the embryo, and their organization into specific tissues, depend on signals transmitted from one cell to another. In the adult, cell signalling orchestrates normal cellular behaviour and responses to wounding and infection. The consequences of breakdowns in this signalling underlie cancer, diabetes and disorders of the immune and cardiovascular systems. Conserved protein domains that act as key regulatory participants in many of these different signalling pathways are highlighted.

2,433 citations


"Fibroblast growth factors, their re..." refers background in this paper

  • ...One way these recruited target proteins may be localized to the activated receptor is through the interaction between their Src-homology 2 (SH2) domains and specific phosphotyrosine residues on the activated receptor (Pawson 1995)....

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  • ...Phosphorylated tyrosine residues, in turn, recruit other signaling molecules to the activated receptors and propagate the signal through many possible transduction pathways (Pawson 1995)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Electron microscopic examination of the corneal neovascularization of thalidomide-treated rabbits revealed specific ultrastructural changes similar to those seen in the deformed limb bud vasculature of Thalidomid-treated embryos.
Abstract: Thalidomide is a potent teratogen causing dysmelia (stunted limb growth) in humans. We have demonstrated that orally administered thalidomide is an inhibitor of angiogenesis induced by basic fibroblast growth factor in a rabbit cornea micropocket assay. Experiments including the analysis of thalidomide analogs revealed that the antiangiogenic activity correlated with the teratogenicity but not with the sedative or the mild immunosuppressive properties of thalidomide. Electron microscopic examination of the corneal neovascularization of thalidomide-treated rabbits revealed specific ultrastructural changes similar to those seen in the deformed limb bud vasculature of thalidomide-treated embryos. These experiments shed light on the mechanism of thalidomide's teratogenicity and hold promise for the potential use of thalidomide as an orally administered drug for the treatment of many diverse diseases dependent on angiogenesis.

2,364 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that FGF 1 is the only FGF that can activate all FGF receptor splice variants and the relative activity of all the other members of the FGF family is determined.

2,066 citations


"Fibroblast growth factors, their re..." refers background in this paper

  • ...†From Ornitz et al. (1996), except where stated; ‡From Koga et al. (1995); §From Miralles et al. (1999); ¶From Xu et al. (1999). topologically identical to interleukin-1β (IL-1β) (Zhu et al. 1991), with which some members also share the feature of secretion by an endoplasmic reticulum…...

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  • ...Mutation of all four cysteines to serines results in a protein with the same secondary structure and equally mitogenic for 3T3 cells as the wild-type FGF-2 (Foxet al. 1988), suggesting that the formation of disulfide bridges is not important for the secondary structure and mitogenic activity of…...

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  • ...Ornitz et al. (1996) determined the specificity of different FGFs for different receptor isoforms by overexpressing these isoforms in Baf3 cells, which do not normally express FGFRs, and assaying for [3H]thymidine incorporation in these cells following treatment with different FGFs (see Table 2)....

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  • ...1, IIIb 100 60 34 16 4 5 6 4 4 1, IIIc 100 104 0 102 59 55 0 1 21 2, IIIb 100 9 45 15 5 5 81 4 7 2, IIIc 100 64 4 94 25 61 2.5 16 89 3, IIIb 100 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 42 3, IIIc 100 107 1 69 12 9 1 41 96 4 100 113 6 108 7 79 2 76 75 Modified from Ornitz et al. (1996)....

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Journal ArticleDOI

1,994 citations


"Fibroblast growth factors, their re..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Defining features of the FGF family are a strong affinity for heparin and HLGAGs (Burgess & Maciag 1989), as well as a central core of 140 amino acids that is highly homologous between different family members....

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