Receptor Tyrosine Kinases — Expanding Horizons

• Main Author: Sassan Hafizi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2014-06-01
• Series: Cells
• Subjects: n/a
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/3/2/657

This Special Issue of Cells on receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) is a timely and unique assemblage of scholarly insights into topics that have relatively recently entered the spotlight in relation to this class of molecules. The review by Julien et al. [1] is an overview of the knowledge on how gangliosides, constituting certain membrane microdomains, may interact with and regulate RTK activation and downstream signalling. Similarly, the review by Banning et al. [2] focuses on the influence of another type of membrane microdomain, namely that containing flotillins, on regulation of RTK signalling and its relevance to cancer. Both of these reviews provide novel insights into mechanisms of transmembrane receptor signalling that rely on the constitution of the microdomains the RTKs reside in, and how their modification may affect receptor clustering, activation and translocation. Thus, knowledge about such microdomains and their interactions with RTKs can provide new information on common regulation pathways starting at the membrane level, which could have implications for novel therapeutic angles in, e.g., cancer. [...]