HOW UNPROCESSED FORM OF NGF INDUCES CELL DEATH

Nerve growth factor determines neuronal cell fate during development or after injury. Kaplan and Miller (David R. Kaplan and Freda D. Miller in Neurobiology: A move to sort life from death. Nature 427, 798, 26 February 2004) shows that a newly identified “death factor”, an unprocessed form of this protein, induces cell death by activating two receptors in concert.

BM&L-March 2004