While nerve growth factor (NGF) is best known for its trophic functions, recent experiments indicate that it can also cause cell death during development by activating the neurotrophin receptor p75. We now identify microglial cells as the source of NGF as a killing agent in the developing eye. When the retina is separated from the surrounding tissue before colonization by microglial cells, no N...

The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) collaborates with the Nogo receptor (NgR) and LINGO-1 to activate RhoA in response to myelin-based growth inhibitors such as myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG). In this issue of Neuron, Domeniconi et al., in a surprising turn, show that MAG induces intramembrane proteolysis (RIP) of p75NTR and find that p75NTR cleavage is required for MAG-induced RhoA ac...

Naturally occurring Antibodies against Synthetic Fragment of Neurotrophin Receptor P75 in Sera of Cognitively Impaired Patients Michala Kolarova1,3*#, Jan Ricny1, Ales Bartos1, Olga M. Volpina2, Dmitry O. Koroev2, Daniela Ripova1, Anna V. Kamynina2*# 1Department of Experimental Neurobiology, AD Center, National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic 2Department of Synthetic Vaccine...

We have transfected MAH cells, an immortalized sympathoadrenal progenitor cell line, with a plasmid encoding the 140-kDa Trk protein, a nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor with protein-tyrosine kinase activity. NGF promotes neurite outgrowth and proliferation from such cells, indicating that Trk is sufficient to mediate such responses in the absence of significant levels of the endogenous 75-kDa...

We have previously shown that neurons in the basal forebrain colocalize the neurotrophin receptor p75NGFR and estrogen receptors. The present study was designed to examine (1) if neural neurotrophin targets respond to estrogen as a general phenotypic feature and (2) if NGF receptor mRNAs are regulated by estrogen, using a prototypical target of NGF, the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) (sensory) neur...

When engaged by antibodies or by their respective li-gands, the cell surface molecules Fas and TNFR1 (the 55 kDa tumor necrosis factor [TNF] receptor) can transduce into cells a signal that often leads to cell death (Armitage, 1994; Nagata and Golstein, 1995). Fas and TNFR1 have homologous extracellular cysteine-rich domains that make them members of the nerve growth factor receptor super-famil...

The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR, also known as tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 16) is implicated in diverse cellular events, but fundamental aspects of its signaling mechanisms remain unclear. To address this, we have established a novel bioassay to characterize signaling cascades activated by p75NTR. We show that in COS7 cells, p75NTR expression causes a large increase ...

Myelinated Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system express the p75 nerve growth factor receptor (p75NGFR) as a consequence of Schwann cell dedifferentiation during Wallerian degeneration. p75NGFR has been implicated in the remyelination of regenerating nerves. Although many studies have shown various mechanisms underlying Schwann cell dedifferentiation, the molecular mechanism contributi...