Plexins protein

Plexins comprise a family of transmembrane proteins that serve as receptors for semaphorins. On the basis... 

Semaphorins are secreted, membrane-associated or transmembrane proteins defined by the presence of a sema-phorin protein domain (Serna domain). In the mammalian system, more than 20 semaphorins have been identified which play important roles in a variety of tissues. The best characterized receptors for mediating semaphoiin effects are members of the neuropilin and plexin families of transmembrane proteins. Semaphoiin functions are best described in the regulation of neural development, angiogenesis, immunoregulation and cancer. 

The presence of PDZ (PSD-95/SAP90-Discs-larg-ZO-l) domains in the RhoGEFs predicted their likely association with other proteins. Several groups identified plexin B as a target through two-hybrid analysis with... 

Identification of ErbB-2 tyrosine kinase in plexin B1 signaling suggests a potential role for phosphorylation (Swiercz et al., 2004). Semaphorin 4D stimulates phosphorylation of both the kinase and plexin Bl. This raises the interesting possibility that the PDZ-RhoGEFs could also be targets of the kinase and that phosphorylation would facilitate their activation as discussed in the previous section. The activation mechanism remains to be determined but could also include tonic stimulation by the G12- or G13 proteins. 

ALA Aminolevulinic acid, GC glycolchitosan, FAK focal adhesion kinase, IL-12 interleukin-12, PDTC pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate, PLXDCl plexin domain-containing protein 1, POSTN periostin, RGD Arg-Gly-Asp peptide, siRNA short interfering RNA... 

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