Cell signaling in the 21st century
Approaches in cell signaling in the 21st century
Guest edited by Professor Bart Vanhaesebroeck and Professor Patrick Eyers and the Biochemical Journal Editorial Board
Cell signaling has traditionally been described as a process by which extracellular signals are sensed by extra- or intracellular receptors, and information relayed through intracellular signal transduction pathways. These pathways control a vast range of cellular processes, including modulation of enzyme and transporter activity, resulting in changes in transcription, metabolism, (epi)genetics and cell behaviour. Cell signaling is operational in pro- and eukaryotes, and in all taxa of the plant and animal kingdom, from unicellular to multicellular organisms. Critically, cell signaling governs tissue development and homeostasis and is often deregulated in disease, with cell signaling components being the molecular targets of most currently used medicines.
However, the field of cell signaling has now moved beyond the study of the conserved types of ‘linear’ signal transduction pathway identified through genetic and biochemical approaches. Indeed, a more contemporary view considers cell signaling as a top-level, system that not only integrates extracellular but also homeostatic intracellular signals, such as those induced by gene deregulation. This broader view has been facilitated by an explosion in structural, multi-omics, chemical and modelling biology advances that have allowed researchers to discover previously unknown post-translational modifications, to monitor and quantify a huge range of modifications in protein, RNA and DNA. The availability of such multi-level information has led to challenges to data integration and understanding, ushering in new approaches for network analysis, systems biology and computational approaches to unlock how cell signaling really works. Therefore, a key remaining challenge is also how to translate these insights from cell-based studies to the tissue and organismal levels.
The themed collection Cell signaling in the 21st century captures these new developments in cell signaling through original research, review articles, and perspective pieces. It provides key insights into fundamental signaling pathways and the technological advances that help to understand signaling.
We would like to thank all the authors for their excellent contributions, and we hope you enjoy reading this special collection on Cell signaling in the 21st century.
