Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) signal through the BMP type I and type II receptors to regulate cellular processes, including embryonic development. The type I BMP receptors activin-like kinase (ALK)3 and ALK6 share a high degree of homology, yet possess distinct signaling roles. Here, we report that although the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta type III receptor (TbetaRIII) enhanced bo...

Endothelial cell migration is an important step during angiogenesis, and its dysregulation contributes to aberrant neovascularization. The bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are potent stimulators of cell migration and angiogenesis. Using microarray analyses, we find that myosin-X (Myo10) is a BMP target gene. In endothelial cells, BMP6-induced Myo10 localizes in filopodia, and BMP-dependent fi...

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) act as growth regulators and inducers of differentiation. They transduce their signal via three different type I receptors, termed activin receptor-like kinase 2 (Alk2), Alk3, or bone morphogenetic protein receptor Ia (BMPRIa) and Alk6 or BMPRIb. Little is known about functional differences between the three type I receptors. Here, we have investigated consequ...

Although BMP6 is highly capable of inducing osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs), the molecular mechanism involved remains to be fully elucidated. Using dominant negative (dn) mutant form of type I and type II TGFβ receptors, we demonstrated that three dn-type I receptors (dnALK2, dnALK3, dnALK6), and three dn-type II receptors (dnBMPRII, dnActRII, dnActRIIB), effec...

Mutations in the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type II receptor (BMPR2) gene cause familial pulmonary arterial hypertension (FPAH), a disease characterized by excessive smooth muscle and endothelial cell proliferation. However, the specific receptors mediating responses to BMPs in human vascular cells are not known. We show that human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (HPASMCs) express hi...

Anoikis, a cell death mechanism triggered upon cell-matrix detachment, is regarded as a physiological suppressor of metastasis that can be regulated by a diverse array of signals. The protein encoded by GDF2 is BMP9 and is a member of the bone morphogenetic protein family and the transforming growth factor (TGF) β superfamily with emerging yet controversial roles in carcinogenesis. In an attemp...

Neural crest cells (NCCs) are pluripotent migratory cells that contribute to the development of various craniofacial structures. Many signaling molecules have been implicated in the formation, migration and differentiation of NCCs including bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). BMPs signal through a receptor complex composed of type I and type II receptors. Type I receptors (Alk2, Alk3 and Alk6) ...

Traditionally two different subfamilies of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily have been associated with different effects on tissue fibrosis: the profibrotic TGF-β subfamily (TGF-β1, TGF-β2 and TGF-β3) and the antifibrotic bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) subfamily. TGF-β1 is the most widely studied profibrotic cytokine, as it regulates numerous processes involved in tissue ...