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Paracrine signaling mediated at cell–cell contacts
Author(s) -
Roy Sougata,
Kornberg Thomas B.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.201400122
Subject(s) - paracrine signalling , mechanism (biology) , cell signaling , autocrine signalling , context (archaeology) , microbiology and biotechnology , signal transduction , signaling proteins , biology , cell , neuroscience , cell type , cell culture , receptor , genetics , physics , paleontology , quantum mechanics
Recent findings in several organ systems show that cytoneme‐mediated signaling transports signaling proteins along cellular extensions and targets cell‐to‐cell exchanges to synaptic contacts. This mechanism of paracrine signaling may be a general one that is used by many (or all) cell types in many (or all) organs. We briefly review these findings in this perspective. We also describe the properties of several signaling systems that have previously been interpreted to support a passive diffusion mechanism of signaling protein dispersion, but can now be understood in the context of the cytoneme mechanism. Also watch the Video Abstract .