Expression and signaling of NGF in the healthy and injured retina

The nerve growth factor (NGF) is a polypeptide member of the small family of evolutionarily well-conserved neurotrophins which also includes brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT3), and NT4/5 [1]. Mature NGF is derived from its precursor form proNGF after proteolytic cleavage within the extracellular space [2] where it activates two distinct cell surface receptors. The receptor tyrosine kinase A (TrkA) is selective to NGF binding and can trigger different signaling pathways related to cell survival, proliferation and differentiation [3,4], while the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) binds non-specifically all neurotrophins with similar affinities [3,5,6].
Source: Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews - Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Tags: Survey Source Type: research