Natural sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) derived from brown seaweed comprise a complex group of macromolecules with a wide range of important physiological properties. SPs have been shown to bind and directly regulate the bioactivity of growth factors and cytokines such as basic fibroblast growth factor, interferon, various enzymes and transforming growth factor. Myostatin is a member of the tran...

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor mediates the induction of a transformed phenotype in normal rat kidney (NRK) cells by transforming growth factors (TGFs). The ability of EGF and its analogue TGF-alpha to induce the transformed phenotype in NRK cells is greatly potentiated by TGF-beta, a polypeptide that does not interact directly with binding sites for EGF or TGF-alpha. Our evidence i...

Recent results support a two-step model for endoderm formation in amphibian embryos, in which endoderm is initially specified by localised maternal factors, including the transcription factor VegT, but is then maintained by extracellular signalling molecules of the transforming growth factor-beta family.

conclusions we suggest avoiding the use of tamoxifen for eps in patients with superimposed calciphylaxis. introduction encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (eps) is a rare but devastating complication of peritoneal dialysis (pd). tamoxifen has been generally well-tolerated, even without randomized controlled trials. case presentation herein, we report a case of a patient undergoing 12 years of pd...