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The kinetics of transcripts turnover is a very important aspect of the regulation of the amount of newly synthesized proteins. Transcripts can serve as a template for protein synthesis as long as they remain in the cytoplasm, bound to the ribosomes. Degradation of mRNAs effectively influences quantity of transcripts in this pool. The process of mRNA degradation, similarly to transcription, is precisely regulated, mainly by proteins which interact with mRNA. These proteins are responsible both for transcripts stabilization and degradation. In this article we have summarized known pathways of mRNA degradation. We have also reviewed the present state of knowledge on tristetraprolin, one of the best characterized proteins that takes part in the transcripts turnover.

A major advance in the field of lymphangiogenesis has come from the discovery of lymphatic endothelium-specific markers. VEGFR-3 was the first molecule found to be expressed in the lymphatic endothelium. Two members of the VEGF family, VEGF-C and VEGF-D are lymphangiogenic when activate VEGFR-3. In addition to VEGFR-3, some other genes have been shown to be mainly expressed in lymphatic endothelial cells. Prox-1 is a homeobox transcription factor gene product involved in the growth and elongation of the lymphatic vessel sprouts during development. Lymphatic vessel endothelial HA receptor-1 (LYVE-1), is a receptor for extracellular matrix/lymphatic fluid glycosaminoglycan in lymphatic endothelial cells. Finally, podoplanin is a glomerular podocyte membrane mucoprotein, which occurs together with VEGFR-3 in the lymphatic endothelium. The discovery of molecules that are specifically expressed by lymphatic endothelium has made possible more accurate and simplified lymphatic vessel identification and targeting the lymphatic vasculature in the treatment of various diseases.