Agrowth factor receptor is areceptor that binds to agrowth factor.^[1] Growth factor receptors are the first stop in cells where the signaling cascade for cell differentiation and proliferation begins. Growth factors, which areligands that bind to the receptor are the initial step to activating the growth factor receptors and tells the cell to grow and/or divide.

These receptors may use theJAK/STAT,MAP kinase, andPI3 kinase pathways.^[2]

A majority of growth factor receptors consists ofreceptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). There are 3 dominant receptor types that are exclusive to research : theepidermal growth factor receptor, theneurotrophin receptor, and theinsulin receptors.^[3] All growth factor receptors are membrane bound and composed of 3 general protein domains:extracellular,transmembrane, andcytoplasmic.^[4] The extracellular domain region is where aligand may bind, usually with very high specificity.^[5] InRTKs, the binding of a ligand to the extracellular ligand binding site leads to theautophosphorylation of tyrosine residues in the intracellular domain.^[6] These phosphorylations allow for other intracellular proteins to bind to with thephosphotyrosine-binding domain which results in a series of physiological responses within the cell.^[6]

Research in today's society focus on growth factor receptors in order to pinpoint cancer treatment.Epidermal growth factor receptors are involved heavily with oncogene activity.^[7] Once growth factors bind to their receptor, a signal transduction pathway occurs within the cell to ensure the cell is working. However, in cancerous cells, the pathway might never turn on or turn off.^[7] Furthermore, in certain cancers, receptors (such asRTKs) are often observed to beoverexpressed, which corresponds to the uncontrolled proliferation and differentiation of cells.^[8] For this same reason, tyrosine receptors are often a target forcancer therapy.^[8]

• Receptors
• Single-pass transmembrane proteins

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata