Journal
CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH
Volume 65, Issue 3, Pages 609-618Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.cardiores.2004.10.002
Keywords
atherosclerosis; smooth muscle; receptors; gene expression; signal transduction
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The molecular mechanisms regulating endothelial cell activation and vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation are critical in the pathological processes underlying atherosclerosis. Numerous growth factors and cytokines trigger the complex and redundant signaling pathways that regulate cell cycle entry; however, the genes controlling these processes are not fully known. Applying techniques for differential gene expression analysis, new transcription factors have been identified in these mechanisms, among them the three members of the NR4A subfamily of nuclear receptors (NRs). These transcription factors (NOR-1, Nur77 and Nurr1) are products of immediate-early genes whose expression and activity is regulated in a cell-specific manner by a variety of extracellular mitogenic, apoptotic and differentiation stimuli. Unlike most NRs whose transcriptional activity is regulated by direct modulatory ligands, NR4A genes do not appear to require ligand binding for activation, and in vascular cells they are highly responsive to growth factors, cytokines, lipoproteins and thrombin. In this review, we discuss our present knowledge on the role of this subfamily of NRs in vascular cell function. (C) 2004 European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available