Endocrine Abstracts

Information transfer through cellular membranes relies upon recognition of the physical and chemical information surrounding the cell by specific proteins, called receptors located in the plasma membrane (PM). These receptors are coupled to various signal relaying systems in the inter leaflet of the PM to initiate the cascade of cellular events that is characteristic of the cell and the receptor. Several receptor types alter the activity of enzymes that liberate signalling mol...

Phosphoinositides (PIs) serve crucial roles in cell physiology ranging from cell signalling to membrane traffic. Among the seven eukaryotic PIs the best studied species is phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P2), which is concentrated at the plasma membrane where among many other functions it is required for the nucleation of endocytic clathrin-coated pits (CCPs). No PI other than PI(4,5)P2 has been implicated in clathrin-mediated endocytosis ...

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase γ (PI3Kγ) is key to inflammation, allergy, cardiovascular, and metabolic disease.1 PI3Kγ is a drug target in chronic inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis,2 atherosclerosis3 and allergic responses.4,5 Localized, PI3Kγ-mediated PtdIns (3,4,5)P3 production5, and a distinct role of Ras selectively activating the p84–PI3Kγ-complex, can modulate PI3Kγ...