The signalling pathways in cancer

The signalling pathways allow communication between the outside world and the cell: for this very reason they are also known as ‘environmental information processing’ pathways. Signalling pathways are made up by many different types of molecules which work together to control one or more cell functions in response to a given stimulus. The first part of the chapter will deal with the general principles, types of signals received by the cell, the receptors available, and how they transmit the signals to the downstream components. In the second part, we will present the basic ‘anatomy’ of these pathways and their main roles in cancer.