Neuregulins and neuregulin receptors in neural development.

The neuregulins are a family of closely related proteins that play important roles in neural and cardiac development, as well as in mammary carcinogenesis. The pleiotropic activities of these molecules are transduced by a set of receptor protein tyrosine kinases that exhibit structural similarity to the receptor for epidermal growth factor. Recent results have demonstrated essential roles for the neuregulins and their receptors in regulating cell number, determining cell fate, and establishing pattern in the developing central and peripheral nervous systems.