Role of bone morphogenetic proteins in transitional cell carcinoma cells

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are pleiotropic growth factors that signal through an interaction with the membrane receptors—type-IA, -IB, and -II (BMP-RIA, -RIB, and -RII, respectively). Although the prototypical members of this group of growth factors were isolated as osteoinductive factors, recently accumulated data have suggested that these factors regulate malignant cells. Herein, we review the data concerning BMPs in transitional cell carcinoma cells.