Growth factors, peptide hormones, neurotransmitters and other secreted molecules initiate diverse signals involved in controlling cellular growth and proliferation, tissue development and differentiation, cellular metabolism and other biological processes. They initiate signals by binding to a receptor on the cell surface, which then undergoes a conformational change leading to an intracellular signaling cascade.
Signaling by such molecules can be autocrine, paracrine or endocrine. Autocrine signaling refers to the secreted factors binding receptors and inducing a signal on the same or similar cell than the one that produced them; while paracrine signaling consists of the factors acting on adjacent cells or cells nearby the cell that produced them. Endocrine signaling involves the secreted factors traveling and acting on cells at a distance from where they are produced.
Important growth factor families include epidermal growth factor (EGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and neurotrophins, which includes brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). These growth factors are crucial in the proliferation and differentiation of epithelial, endothelial and neuronal tissues. Other growth factors, such as insulin growth factor (IGF), have important roles in the regulation of metabolism.
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