In article <3oh5s0$q03 at vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>, hanko at superdec.uni.uiuc.edu (Hank)
writes:
>Help! I'm a high school student with a Stress and the Immune System
>paper due monday and half my references refer to mitogens and
>mitogenesis. I've looked in my medical dictionary and called up my
>teacher who looked in his cell bio dictionary and neither of us have a
>clue! I have a feeling I should probably figure this out if I want to
>know what I'm talking about.
>
Remember MITOSIS? Greek word for cell division? Remember GENESIS? meaning to
generate? A mitogen is a molecule (usually a lectin) which causes given cells
to undergo mitosis. This is usually the case with lymphocytes whose response is
to undergo mitosis upon antigenic activation. Mitogens mimic antigens by
causing surface receptor cross-linking in lymphocytes thereby, probably,
triggering signal transduction and, ultimately, cell division.
Hope it helps. Just from the top of my head without checking things up.
ciao
