The actin cytoskeleton in normal and pathological cell motility

Cell motility is crucial for tissue formation and for development of organisms. Later on cell migration remains essential throughout the lifetime of the organism for wound healing and immune responses. The actin cytoskeleton is the cellular engine that drives cell motility downstream of a complex si...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology 2004-10, Vol.36 (10), p.1890-1909
Main Authors: Lambrechts, Anja, Van Troys, Marleen, Ampe, Christophe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actin binding proteins
Actin dynamics
Actins - chemistry
Actins - metabolism
Animals
Cancer
Cell migration
Cell Movement
Cytoskeleton - chemistry
Cytoskeleton - metabolism
Cytoskeleton - pathology
Humans
Invasion
Signal Transduction
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Summary:Cell motility is crucial for tissue formation and for development of organisms. Later on cell migration remains essential throughout the lifetime of the organism for wound healing and immune responses. The actin cytoskeleton is the cellular engine that drives cell motility downstream of a complex signal transduction cascade. The basic molecular machinery underlying the assembly and disassembly of actin filaments consists of a variety of actin binding proteins that regulate the dynamic behavior of the cytoskeleton in response to different signals. The multitude of proteins and regulatory mechanisms partaking in this system makes it vulnerable to mutations and alterations in expression levels that ultimately may cause diseases. The most familiar one is cancer that in later stages is characterized by active aberrant cell migration. Indeed tumor invasion and metastasis are increasingly being associated with deregulation of the actin system.
ISSN:1357-2725
1878-5875
DOI:10.1016/j.biocel.2004.01.024