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Signal transduction

Taking the Rap

Nature volume 392, pages 553–554 (1998)Cite this article

Treatment of the phaeochromocytoma cell line PC12 with nerve growth factor (NGF) leads to differentiation of the cells into a phenotype that resembles sympathetic neurons. Yet treatment with other growth factors, such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), does not. How is such specificity in growth-factor signalling achieved?

On page 622 of this issue, York et al.1 provide a clue. NGF-mediated differentiation is known to require signalling by Ras (ref. 2), and the authors now show that another small GTPase, Rap1, is also involved. Together with other studies from the same group3, these results indicate that, as well as the well-characterized Ras pathway, there is another pathway involved in NGF-mediated signalling.

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Figure 1: Different pathways activated by nerve growth factor (NGF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Institute of Cancer Research, Chester Beatty Laboratories, 237 Fulham Road, London, SW3 6JB, UK

    Christopher J. Marshall

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  1. Christopher J. Marshall
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Marshall, C. Taking the Rap. Nature 392, 553–554 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/33293

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