1,721,191 research outputs found
Physiology and pathology of notch signalling system.
Notch proteins encode a family of transmembrane receptors that are part of a signalling transduction system known as Notch signalling, an extremely conserved and widely used mechanism regulating programs governing growth, apoptosis and differentiation in metazoans. Notch signalling begins when the Notch receptor binds ligands and ends when the Notch intracellular domain enters the nucleus and activates transcription of target genes. This core pathway is subjected to a wide array of regulatory influences and protein-protein interactions and is correlated with other signalling pathway. This review will summarize recent findings concerning the physiology and pathology of Notch signalling in vascular development and homeostasis. Moreover, the clinical phenotypes of Notch3 signalling system pathology will be described, with particular regard to CADASIL (Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy) for which the most recent pathogenetic hypotheses are reported
Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis.Heterogeneity of clinical phenotype with evidence of previosuly undescribed ophthalmological findings
Cerebrontendinous xanthomatosis (CTX) is a rare autosomal recessive neurometabolic disease involving lipid metabolism. The classical phenotype is characterized by neurological dysfunction, tendon xanthomas and juvenile cataracts. Other ophthalmological findings have occasionally been reported. To gain more insight into the type and frequency of ophthalmological alterations in this multisystem metabolic disorder, we examined 13 CTX patients. Besides cataracts, found in all cases, the second most frequent ocular abnormality was paleness of the optic disk, which was found in 6 patients and was probably previously underestimated. Signs of premature retinal senescence were also observed. We discuss the possible relation between these ocular manifestations and the metabolic defect
Optic nerve fibre layer thickness in patients with CADASIL: an optical coherence tomography (OCT) study
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