Mitogen

Mitogen

A mitogen is a chemical substance that encourages a cell to commence cell division, triggering mitosis. A mitogen is usually some form of a protein.

Mitogenesis is the induction (triggering) of mitosis, typically via a mitogen.

Mitogens trigger signal transduction pathways in which mitogen-activated protein kinase is involved, leading to mitosis.

Contents

Use in immunology

B cells can enter mitosis when they encounter an antigen matching their immunoglobulin.

Mitogens are often used to stimulate lymphocytes and therefore assess immune function.

The most commonly used mitogens in clinical laboratory medicine are:

Name Acts upon T cells? Acts upon B cells?
phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) yes no
concanavalin A (conA) yes no
lipopolysaccharide (LPS) no yes
pokeweed mitogen (PWM) yes yes

Lipopolysaccharide toxin from gram-negative bacteria is thymus-independent. They may directly activate B cells, regardless of their antigenic specificity.

Plasma cells are terminally differentiated and, therefore, cannot undergo mitosis. Memory B cells can proliferate to produce more memory cells or plasma B cells. This is how the mitogen works, that is, by inducing mitosis in memory B cells to cause them to divide, with some becoming plasma cells.

Mitogens in human physiology

Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 mediates the major growth-promoting effect of Human Growth Hormone as a paracrine agent at growth plates in the skeletal system.

Other uses

Mitogens also induce the activity of the PTGS2 enzyme.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • mitogen — mitogen. См. митоген. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • mitogen — [mīt′ə jən] n. Genetics any substance that causes a cell to undergo mitosis mitogenic adj …   English World dictionary

  • Mitogen — Mitogene sind Proteine, die Zellteilungen anregen. Immunologie Mitogene regen Zellteilungen bei B und T Zellen an. Während Antigene die B und T Zellen nur über spezifisch bindende Rezeptoren aktivieren können (echte Immunantwort), reagieren… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • mitogen — A substance frequently derived from plants that stimulates mitosis and lymphocyte transformation; includes not only lectins such as phytohemagglutinins and concanavalin A, but also substances from streptococci (associated with streptolysin S) and …   Medical dictionary

  • Mitogen-activated protein kinase — Identifiers EC number 2.7.11.24 CAS number 142243 02 5 …   Wikipedia

  • Mitogen-activated protein kinase 9 — Rendering based on PDB 3E7O …   Wikipedia

  • Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase — For other uses, see MKK (disambiguation). Mitogen activated protein kinase kinase [sic] (also known as MAP2K) is a kinase enzyme which phosphorylates mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK). MAP2K is classified as EC 2.7.12.2. There are seven… …   Wikipedia

  • mitogen — noun Etymology: mitosis + gen Date: 1946 a substance that induces mitosis • mitogenic adjective • mitogenicity noun …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • mitogen — n. [Gr. mitos, thread; genos, birth] An agent that stimulates a cell to undergo mitosis …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • mitogen — mitogenic /muy teuh jen ik/, adj. /muy teuh jeuhn, jen /, n. Biol. any substance or agent that stimulates mitotic cell division. [1950 55; MITO(SIS) + GEN] * * * …   Universalium

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