Loading...
Publication
Vimentin diversity in health and disease
| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 MB | Adobe PDF |
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Vimentin is a protein that has been linked to a large variety of pathophysiological conditions,
including cataracts, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV and cancer. Vimentin has also been
shown to regulate a wide spectrum of basic cellular functions. In cells, vimentin assembles into a
network of filaments that spans the cytoplasm. It can also be found in smaller, non-filamentous
forms that can localise both within cells and within the extracellular microenvironment. The
vimentin structure can be altered by subunit exchange, cleavage into different sizes, re-annealing,
post-translational modifications and interacting proteins. Together with the observation that different
domains of vimentin might have evolved under different selection pressures that defined distinct
biological functions for different parts of the protein, the many diverse variants of vimentin might be
the cause of its functional diversity. A number of review articles have focussed on the biology and
medical aspects of intermediate filament proteins without particular commitment to vimentin, and
other reviews have focussed on intermediate filaments in an in vitro context. In contrast, the present
review focusses almost exclusively on vimentin, and covers both ex vivo and in vivo data from
tissue culture and from living organisms, including a summary of the many phenotypes of vimentin
knockout animals. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of
the many diverse aspects of vimentin, from biochemical, mechanical, cellular, systems biology and
medical perspectives.
Description
Keywords
Vimentin Intermediate filaments Cell-extracellular matrix adhesions Extracellular vimentin Cell mechanical stiffness or elasticity Cellular contractility Biomechanics Epithelial-mesenchymal transition Tissue regeneration Cancer and metastasis Drug target Clinical biomarkers . Faculdade de Ciências da Vida
Citation
Danielsson, F., Peterson, M. K., Araújo, H. C., Lautenschläger, F., & Gad, A. K. B. (2018). Vimentin diversity in health and disease. Cells, 7(10), 147.
Publisher
MDPI