Cell Signaling and Disease  Document Sample Cell Signaling and
Disease Powered By Docstoc
Communication between cells is important in order to ensure that
all cells are performing their required functions. Cell to cell
communication usually takes the form of a signal transduction
pathway. You can think of such a pathway as a row of dominoes,
all standing on their ends. Push one domino over, and the rest
fall, due their direct or indirect association with the first
one you pushed over.          Some signals that cells send only
work over a short distance. For example, in the brain,
neurotransmitters allow one neuron to excite its neighbor. The
signal travels no further. Other signals, however, do travel a
further distance. Hormones, for example, are secreted by a
source organ and travel to target cells, equipped with
specialized receptors, in remote regions of the body.
Unfortunately, signal transduction might go awry. Because there
are so many players and so many steps in the process, it is easy