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Chapter category: Gene Therapy

pRb in the Differentiation of Normal and Neoplastic Cells

This chapter appears in the following book:

Rb and Tumorigenesis

Edited by: Maurizio Fanciulli
ISBN: 0-387-32173-X
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Deborah Pajalunga, Grazia Camarda and Marco Crescenzi


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This chapter deals with the role played by the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) in a variety of differentiation processes. After broadly reviewing the current knowledge on this issue, it points at two common themes. The first is the exclusive involvement of pRb in the final maturation stages of each lineage, so that the functional ablation of the protein produces relatively subtle differentiation defects. The second is that, at least in the cell types more thoroughly investigated, pRb exerts its pro-differentiation potential by enhancing the activities of transcription factors that are key regulators of tissue-specific differentiation. Finally, the hypothesis is put forward that pRb plays a role in the final differentiation stages of a much wider range of cell types than currently recognized. It is proposed that one reason for the well-know, poorly-understood, inverse relationship between differentiation and malignancy is the functional impairment of pRb and possibly its family members in the vast majority of human cancers.

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Additional chapters from this book:

Rb and Cellular Differentiation

Lucia Latella and Pier Lorenzo Puri*

The pivotal role of the Retinoblastoma gene product p110 (pRb) in cellular differentiation has been postulated since the identification of pRb as a target of oncogenic events.1-3 The demonstration o...

Regulation of Rb Function by Noncyclin Dependent Kinases

Jaya Padmanabhan and Srikumar P. Chellappan

Inactivation of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein, Rb, is necessary for the normal progression of the mammalian cell cycle.1 Studies over the past fifteen years have shown that Rb protein ...

Regulation of E2F-Responsive Genes through Histone Modifications

Estelle Nicolas, Laetitia Daury and Didier Trouche

The retinoblastoma protein Rb, when targeted to E2F-responsive promoters through a direct interaction with E2F proteins, actively represses transcription. This property is shared by the two Rb-relat...

Regulation of DNA Replication by the Retinoblastoma Tumor Suppressor Protein

Erik S. Knudsen and Steven P. Angus

The retinoblastoma gene product (RB) plays a critical role in the inhibition of cancer. This prototypical tumor suppressor was identified based on bi-alleleic inactiviation in the pediatric tumor re...

pRb in the Differentiation of Normal and Neoplastic Cells

Deborah Pajalunga, Grazia Camarda and Marco Crescenzi

This chapter deals with the role played by the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) in a variety of differentiation processes. After broadly reviewing the current knowledge on this issue, it points at two c...

RB as Positive Transcriptional Regulator During Epithelial Differentiation

Chantal E. Cremisi and Linda L. Pritchard

RB plays an essential role in epithelial cell differentiation and viability, these two properties being totally linked and independent of p53. To exert these functions, RB acts as a positive transcr...

Diverse Regulatory Functions of the E2F Family of Transcription Factors

Fred Dick and Nick Dyson

E2F activity is largely controlled by cell cycle dependent phosphorylation of the Retino blastoma family of proteins (eg. pRB). Regulation of E2F transcription factors by RB-family proteins is cruci...

Emerging Roles for the Retinoblastoma Gene Family

Jacqueline L. Vanderluit, Kerry L. Ferguson and Ruth S. Slack

Research on the retinoblastoma protein has grown from studying its role as a tumour suppressor in cancer to identifying it as a key regulator of the cell cycle G1/S check point and today to explorin...

New Insights Into Transcriptional Regulation by RB: One Size No Longer Fits All

Peggy J. Farnham

The retinoblastoma (Rb) protein is a key regulator of cell proliferation, differentiation, and tumorigenesis. Initial studies of Rb revealed that it binds to, and decreases the activity of, the E2F ...


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