BACKGROUND We previously demonstrated embryotrophic actions of maternal (oocyte-derived) follistatin during bovine early embryogenesis. Classical actions of follistatin are attributed to inhibition of activity of growth factors including activins and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP). However, temporal changes in BMP mRNA in early bovine embryos and the effects of exogenous BMP on embryo develo...

UNLABELLED Growth plate chondrocytes integrate multiple signals during normal development. The type I BMP receptor ALK2 is expressed in cartilage and expression of constitutively active (CA) ALK2 and other activated type I BMP receptors results in maturation-independent expression of Ihh in chondrocytes in vitro and in vivo. The findings suggest that BMP signaling modulates the Ihh/PTHrP signal...

Three articles in this issue of the Journal report on the therapeutic potential of a new kid on the kinase inhibitor block: crizotinib, an ATP-competitive inhibitor of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) receptor tyrosine kinase. Kwak et al.1 summarize a study involving patients with non–small-cell lung cancer who were enrolled in a phase 1 trial, starting in 2008, hot on the heels of a study ...

Small molecule inhibitors have proven extremely useful for investigating signal transduction pathways and have the potential for development into therapeutics for inhibiting signal transduction pathways whose activities contribute to human diseases. Transforming growth factor (TGF) is a member of a large family of pleiotropic cytokines that are involved in many biological processes, including g...