Transcription factors and pattern formation in the developing
lung.
Cardoso, Wellington Veras.
The Pulmonary Center, Department of Medicine, Boston University
School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118
APStracts 2:0102L, 1995.
During development of the respiratory tract embryonic cells are
instructed to organize themselves along an axis and differentiate,
such that proximal structures (trachea) greatly differ from those in
distal alveoli. Pattern formation relates to this process of
organization, and it is believed to be transcriptionally regulated in
many developmental systems. Although the lung is site of expression
of many transcription factors such as Hox, retinoid receptors,
hepatocyte nuclear factors and myc among others, little information
is available on how they influence lung pattern. Functional studies
so far have directly implicated the product of the proto-oncogene N
-myc and the retinoic acid receptors (RARs) as transcriptional
regulators of lung patterning, and it is likely that tissue-specific
homeobox genes, such as the thyroid transcription factor-1, play an
important role in distal lung formation. This review describes
several aspects of transcription factors possibly involved in lung
patterning, including structure, spatial distribution and their
putative functions.
Received 6 March 1995; accepted in final form 21 June 195.
APS Manuscript Number L72-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Lung Cell. Mol.
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 6 July 1995.