The endoplasmic reticulum stress response in health and disease

The ER stress response is a signaling pathway that transmits information about the homeostasis of the ER lumen (or its disruption) to the nucleus and cytoplasm. Metazoan cells can respond to ER stress by upregulating protein folding, export and degradation machinery, by downregulating global translation, and by apoptosis. The ER stress response has been well characterized in S. cerevisiae, but the mammalian ER stress pathways are significantly more complex and only partially understood. Here we review the major components of both the yeast and mammalian ER stress, response pathways and highlight their role in both normal cellular physiology and selected pathological conditions.