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7413094 
Journal Article 
Signaling Pathways Involved in Kidney and Urinary Tract Physiology and Pathology 
Lobo, J; Henrique, Rui; , 
2020 
Springer International Publishing 
Cham 
Tissue-Specific Cell Signaling 
163-193 
The kidneys are responsible for maintaining homeostasis, keeping the internal milieu in conditions that sustain life. A number of signaling pathways are implicated in all these feedback loops of regulation, and their disruption or overactivation might contribute to several diseases culminating in kidney failure and may, also, lead to kidney cancer. Because specific signaling cascades are also activated in the various histological subtypes of renal cell carcinoma, type-specific tailoring of targeted therapies is desirable. The urinary tract functions as a conduit that drives urine produced in the kidneys as a means of detoxification, for storage in the bladder and finally excretion by the urethra. This micturition cycle is highly coordinated, with prominent influence from the nervous system and related signaling pathways. Changes in these receptors and mediators disrupt the cycle and produce lower urinary tract symptoms which aggravate patients’ quality of life. Also, the urothelium covering the upper and lower urinary tract is not the same, hence signaling mechanisms involved in bladder and upper tract urothelial carcinoma are necessarily different. In this chapter we present and discuss some of the most relevant signaling cascades involved in kidney and urinary tract physiology and pathology, including non-neoplastic diseases and cancer.