[Cell signalling and cancer].

Cell signalling represents the network of cell communication pathways. Reception of a message by a cell results in the implementation of various direct and indirect actions, especially through the transcription of the genes required for carrying out the orders received. The signals exchanged by cells may concern proliferation and differentiation, adhesion and motility, survival and death. Thanks to various genetic or epigenetic mechanisms, the cancer cell is able to take advantage of the signalling pathways, to divert them from their original goals and to use them to its own benefit to proliferate, migrate and survive. This is why it can be said that cancer is a disease of cell signalling. We will present here a general classification of the main pathways of cell signalling and some of the recurrent mechanisms used for the transmission of information between cells and inside cells.