The transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) signaling pathway is involved in many cellular processes in both the adult organism and the developing embryo including cell growth, cell differentiation, apoptosis, cellular homeostasis and other cellular functions. In spite of the wide range of cellular processes that the TGF-β signaling pathway regulates, the process is relatively simple. TGF-β superfamily ligands bind to a type II receptor, which recruits and phosphorylates a type I receptor. The type I receptor then phosphorylates receptor-regulated SMADs (R-SMADs) which can now bind the coSMAD SMAD4. R-SMAD/coSMAD complexes accumulate in the nucleus where they act as transcription factors and participate in the regulation of target gene expression.

In the present book, fifteen typical literatures about TGF-β signaling and biology published on international authoritative journals were selected to introduce the worldwide newest progress, which contains reviews or original researches on medical science, cell signaling, oncology, biology, ect. We hope this book can demonstrate advances in TGF-β signaling and biology as well as give references to the researchers, students and other related people.