30 TGF-β and the Tumor Microenvironment
Abstract
It is now clear that TGF-β is a central signaling component in the tumor microenvironment. In cancer, the TGF-β1 ligand is expressed at higher levels than TGF-β2 or TGF-β3 (Derynck et al. 1987; Dickson et al. 1987). This preferential expression has resulted in a focus on the TGF-β1 ligand in a majority of the current literature. It is possible that there are unique roles for each isoform in the cancer microenvironment, but we herein focus on the TGF-β1 ligand to generalize signaling through this pathway. Up-regulation of TGF-β1 expression is common in cancer, and this increase in expression can be readily detected in tumors (Wojtowicz-Praga 2003). In addition, the increase in TGF-β abundance in tumor tissue is often accompanied...
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PDFDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/0.965-987