This book uniquely relates the broad impact of signal transduction research on the understanding and treatment of human disease. There have been significant advances in the area of signaling in disease processes, yet no resource presently connects these advances with understanding of disease processes and applications for novel therapeutics. Given the emphasis on translational research and biological relevance in biotechnology, and, conversely, the importance of molecular approaches for clinical research, it is evident that a single resource bridging signaling research and human disease will be invaluable.

Providing an overview of recent developments in the field of signal transduction, this volume emphasizes direct clinical significance. As such, topics like nuclear receptors, apoptosis, growth factors, cell cycles and cancer are examined.

Signal Transduction in Cardiovascular System Health and Disease highlights the major contributions of different signaling systems in modulating normal cardiovascular functions and how a perturbation in these signaling events leads to abnormal cell functions and cardiovascular disorders. This title is volume 3 in the new Springer series, Advances in Biochemistry in Health and Disease.

This volume contains papers presented at the Ninth International Conference on Second Messengers and Phosphoproteins. Written by leading scientists - including two Nobel Laureates - the papers highlight contemporary advances in the rapidly evolving field of signal transduction. The findings presented are of vital significance to researchers in virtually all biomedical fields, including pharmacology, molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, the neurosciences, and physiology. The contributors offer new insights into fundamental cell signalling mechanisms and explore the role of these mechanisms in physiological and pathophysiological responses in a variety of systems. Coverage includes many topics that are currently under intensive study, such as growth factors and special signalling systems; protein phosphatases and metabolic pathways; calcium and ion channels; cyclic GMP and cyclic AMP; and receptors and G proteins.

Signal transduction is any process by which a cell converts one kind of signal or stimulus into another. Processes referred to as signal transduction often involve a sequence of biochemical reactions inside the cell, which are carried out by enzymes and linked through second messengers. In many transduction processes, an increasing number of enzymes and other molecules become engaged in the events that proceed from the initial stimulus. Responses of cells to environmental signals, toxins and stressors have profound implications for diverse aspects of human health and disease including development, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, asthma, heart, autoimmune diseases and cancer. The delineation of the signal transduction pathways affected in these and other complex human diseases are likely to present new avenues for therapeutic intervention and understanding of human disease mechanisms.

It is the great glory as it is also the great threat of science that everything which is in principle possible can be done if the intention to do it is sufficiently resolute. Peter Medawar, "The Threat and the Glory" An international symposium on "Cell Signal Transduction, Second Messengers, and Protein Phosphorylation in Health and Disease" was held at EI Escorial (Spain) from July 5-9, 1993 as a summer course of the Complutense University in Madrid. The lectures were delivered by renowned scientists from Europe, America, and Asia and attended by a large number of young scientists and graduate students from many countries. During evolution multicellular organisms have developed the most sophisticated and heterogeneous signals to maintain in harmony their multiple functions. The latest and most controversial aspects and developments in signal transduction were the main focus of this course. The communication among participants was extremely fluid, alive, and warm. This allowed the understanding of the key steps in cellular communication, from their original and historical sources to the main present hypothesis in the borderline of the latest scientific discoveries in this field. Without any doubt, the special atmosphere of the place, the monuments and the old granite stones, the "patio" with the fountain and the rose garden were responsible for the cordial meeting. This book comprises the manuscripts of the participants and we hope it will contribute to our knowledge of cellular signal transduction and be of value to a wider scientific community.