Signal transduction

Cellular responses are triggered by proteins, drugs, or pathogens binding to specific receptors. Receptor mediated signaling is a cascade of enzymatic reactions that amplifies the signal. The agonists and antagonists modulating receptor functionality are essential tools for research and medical practice.

The receptors are divided into 2 categories:

Cell surface receptors

G-protein coupled receptor

Tyrosine kinase receptor

Integrin receptor

Ligand-gated ion channel

Toll gate receptor

Intracellular nuclear and cytoplasmic receptors

Steroid hormone receptors enter the nucleus and directly bind to DNA to regulate gene expression.

The major signaling pathways in mammals include:

PI3K/Akt pathway

AMPK pathway

Apoptosis pathway

Estrogen pathway

Growth factor pathway

JAK/STAT pathway

NFkB pathway

Notch pathway

Ras/MAPK/ERK pathway

Toll-like receptor pathway

Wnt signaling pathway

These pathways intersect and cross-talk, increasing signal diversity.