Cells respond to environmental cues through a complex and dynamic network of signaling pathways that normally maintain a critical balance between cellular proliferation, differentiation, senescence, and death. One current research challenge is to identify those aberrations in signal transduction that directly contribute to a loss of this division-limited equilibrium and the progression to malignant transformation. The study of cell-signaling molecules in this context is a central component of cancer research. From the knowledge of such targets, investigators have been able to productively advance many insightful hypotheses about how a particular cancer cell may misinterpret, or respond inappropriately to, growth regulatory cues in their environment
