The contribution of signaling to unraveling the natural history of cancer. The lesson of the phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C pathway.

Signal transduction pathways represent the bases of physiological cell activities, and the disruption of one or more pathways is involved in several human diseases. Phospholipases are well conserved enzymes identified in different organisms, including bacteria, yeast, plants, animals, and viruses. Phosphoinositide-specific PLC (PI-PLC) belongs to the inositide signaling pathways. In the structures of PI-PLC isozymes highly conserved domains as well as regulatory specific domains determine regulatory peculiarities. PI-PLC enzymes share a common mechanism, but each subtype plays a peculiar role and has a specific cell distribution related to a specific function. Many evidences indicated that the regulation of PI-PLCs is crucial in health and disease. PI-PLC-dependent molecular mechanisms were associated with the activation or inhibition of important physiological or pathological processes.