The molecular basis for understanding neurotrophins and their relevance to neurologic disease.

T he field of neurotrophin biology has made great advances in recent years to include a greater understanding of signaling pathways and broader understanding of the diverse biological roles of these molecules. This review will focus primarily on the nerve growth factor family of neurotrophins and how recent descriptions of the molecular function of both the ligands and the receptors have helped us to understand the basis for many neurologic processes. Ultimately, the goals of such studies are to give us further insight into potential diagnostic and therapeutic uses for these factors or signaling intermediates that may activate given pathways in neurotrophin signaling to achieve a particular objective based upon the underlying disease.