Front Cover -- Signal Transduction -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1. Prologue: Signal transduction, origins and personalities -- Transduction, the word and its meaning: one dictionary, different points of view -- Hormones, evolution and history -- Hormones: a definition -- Neurotransmitters -- Ergot -- Receptors and ligands -- Chapter 2. First messengers -- Hormones -- Binding of ligands to receptors -- Chapter 3. Receptors -- Adrenaline (again) -- α- and β-adrenergic receptors -- Acetylcholine receptors -- Ion channel-linked receptors -- The 7TM superfamily of G-protein linked receptors -- Receptor-ligand interaction and receptor activation -- Transmitting signals into cells -- Intracellular 7TM receptor domains and signal transmission -- Adrenaline (yet again) -- Chapter 4. GTP-binding proteins and signal transduction -- Nucleotides as metabolic regulators -- GTP-binding proteins, G-proteins or GTPases -- Ras proteins -- Ras-GAPs -- Essay: Activation of G-proteins without subunit dissociation -- Chapter 5. Effector enzymes coupled to GTP-binding proteins: Adenylyl cyclase and phospholipase C -- Adenylyl cyclase -- Phospholipase C -- Chapter 6. The regulation of visual transduction -- Sensitivity of photoreceptors -- Photoreceptor mechanisms -- Adaptation: calcium acts as a negative regulator -- Photo-excitation of rhodopsin -- Switching off the mechanism -- A note on phototransduction in invertebrates -- Chapter 7. Calcium and signal transduction -- A new second messenger is discovered -- Calcium and evolution -- Distinguishing Ca2+ and Mg2+ -- Free, bound and trapped Ca2+ -- Cytosol Ca2+ is kept low -- Detecting changes in cytosol Ca2+ -- Mechanisms that elevate cytosol Ca2+ concentration -- The pattern of cytosol Ca2+ changes in single cells -- Localization of intracellular second messengers.

Chapter 8. Calcium signalling -- Calcium binding by proteins -- Effects of elevated calcium -- Paradigms of calcium signalling -- Chapter 9. Phosphorylation and dephosphorylation: Protein kinases A and C -- Protein phosphorylation as a switch in cellular functioning -- cAMP and the amplification of signals -- Protein kinase A -- Protein kinase A and the regulation of transcription -- Protein kinase A and the activation of ERK -- Actions of cAMP not mediated by PKA -- Protein kinase C -- The protein kinase C family -- Structural domains and activation of protein kinase C -- Multiple sources of DAG and other lipids to activate PKC -- Differential localization of PKC isoforms -- PKC anchoring proteins, STICKs, PICKs and RACKs -- PKC and cell transformation -- PKC and inflammation -- Chapter 10. Growth factors: Setting the framework -- Viruses and tumours -- The discovery of NGF... and EGF -- Platelet derived growth factor -- Transforming growth factors -- Problems with nomenclature -- Essay: The cell cycle -- Essay: Cancer and cell transformation -- Chapter 11. Signalling pathways operated by receptor protein tyrosine kinases -- The tyrosine kinase family -- Tyrosine kinase-containing receptors -- Branching of the signalling pathway -- A switch in receptor signalling: Activation of ERK by 7TM receptors -- Chapter 12. Signalling pathways operated by non-receptor protein tyrosine kinases -- The non-receptor protein tyrosine kinase family -- Interferons and their effects -- Oncogenes, malignancy and signal transduction -- Essay: Non-receptor protein tyrosine kinases and their activation -- Chapter 13. Phosphoinositide 3-kinases, protein kinase B and signalling through the insulin receptor -- Insulin receptor signalling -- it took some time to discover -- PI 3-kinase -- Insulin: The role of IRS, PI 3-kinase and PKB in the regulation of glycogen synthesis.

Other processes mediated by the 3-phosphorylated inositol phospholipids -- Multiple kinases and multiple phosphorylation sites, PDK1 as an integrator of multiple inputs -- So, who did discover insulin? -- Chapter 14. Signal transduction to and from adhesion molecules -- Adhesion molecules -- Adhesion molecules and cell survival -- Adhesion molecules and regulation of the cell cycle -- Adhesion molecules as tumour suppressors -- Essay: Apoptosis -- Chapter 15. Adhesion molecules and trafficking of leukocytes -- Inflammation and its mediators -- TNFα and regulation of adhesion molecule expression in endothelial cells -- Chapter 16. Signalling through receptor bound protein serine/threonine kinases -- The TGFβ family of growth factors -- Downstream signalling -- Drosophila, Caenorhabditis and Smad -- Chapter 17. Protein dephosphorylation and protein phosphorylation -- The importance of dephosphorylation -- The role of PTPs in signal transduction -- Negative regulation through dephosphorylation -- Serine-threonine phosphatases -- Classification of protein serine-threonine phosphatases -- Chapter 18. Protein domains and signal transduction -- Structurally conserved protein modules -- Domains that bind oligopeptide motifs -- Domains that bind proteins and lipids -- Polypeptide modules that bind Ca2+ -- Protein kinase domains -- Index.