Growth Factor Receptors on Olfactory Sensory Neurons and Supporting Cells

Growth Factor Receptors on Olfactory Sensory Neurons and Supporting Cells are a specialized group of signaling proteins that govern the unique regenerative capacity of the olfactory epithelium (Plendl et al., 1999) [1]. This target group includes several receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) such as the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptors (FGFRs), and the Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 Receptor (IGF-1R), as well as neurotrophin receptors like TrkA and p75NTR (Ohta & Ichimura, 2000; Ueha et al., 2018) [9, 15]. These receptors are expressed on the various cell populations of the olfactory mucosa, including the horizontal and globose basal stem cells, sustentacular (supporting) cells, and the olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) (Graziadei & Monti-Graziadei, 1978; Suzuki & Takeda, 2002) [10, 16]. Their activation initiates critical intracellular pathways, primarily the MAPK/ERK and PI3K/Akt cascades, which regulate the proliferation of progenitor cells and their subsequent differentiation into mature neurons (Jiang et al., 2008; Chen et al., 2020) [6, 11, 18]. In clinical practice, these receptors are targeted to treat olfactory disorders such as anosmia and hyposmia, which can result from aging, traumatic injury, or viral infections like COVID-19 (Ueha et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2020) [3, 15]. Therapeutic approaches often involve the intranasal administration of growth factor ligands to stimulate endogenous repair and restore sensory function (Buckland et al., 2000) [4]. However, the use of these potent mitogens requires careful monitoring due to potential safety concerns, including the risk of localized tissue hyperplasia or the induction of neoplastic changes (OAE Publishing, 2015) [7, 8].

Other names

Olfactory growth factor receptorsNeurotrophic factor receptors in the olfactory epitheliumOE growth factor receptorsGrowth factor receptors of the olfactory mucosa

Activation of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) and serine/threonine kinase pathways, including the MAPK/ERK, PI3K/Akt, and SMAD signaling cascades, which stimulate the proliferation of basal stem cells (globose and horizontal basal cells) and promote their differentiation into mature, functional olfactory sensory neurons while supporting the survival of existing neuronal and non-neuronal cells (Plendl et al., 1999; Jiang et al., 2008; Chen et al., 2020) [1, 6, 18].