Volume 19, No 1, Jan 2009

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 19 Issue 1, January 2009: 36-46

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Nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of Smad proteins

Caroline S Hill

Laboratory of Developmental Signalling, Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX, UK Correspondence: Caroline S Hill,(caroline.hill@cancer.org.uk )

Nuclear accumulation of active Smad complexes is crucial for transduction of transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)-superfamily signals from transmembrane receptors into the nucleus. It is now clear that the nucleocytoplasmic distributions of Smads, in both the absence and the presence of a TGF-β-superfamily signal, are not static, but instead the Smads are continuously shuttling between the nucleus and the cytoplasm in both conditions. This article presents the evidence for continuous nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of Smads. It then reviews different mechanisms that have been proposed to mediate Smad nuclear import and export, and discusses how the Smad steady-state distributions in the absence and the presence of a TGF-β-superfamily signal are established. Finally, the biological relevance of continuous nucleocytoplasmic shuttling for signaling by TGF-β superfamily members is discussed.

Cell Research (2009) 19:36-46. doi: 10.1038/cr.2008.325; published online 30 December 2008

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