Intermediate filaments: A role in epithelial polarity

Intermediate filaments have long been considered mechanical components of the cell that provide resistance to deformation stress. Practical experimental problems, including insolubility, lack of good pharmacological antagonists, and the paucity of powerful genetic models have handicapped the researc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental cell research 2007-06, Vol.313 (10), p.2255-2264
Main Authors: Oriolo, Andrea S., Wald, Flavia A., Ramsauer, Victoria P., Salas, Pedro J.I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Apical polarity
Cell Polarity - physiology
Cellular biology
Epithelia
Epithelial asymmetry
Epithelial Cells - metabolism
Epithelial Cells - ultrastructure
Exocytosis - physiology
Gamma-TurC
Gene expression
Humans
Intermediate Filament Proteins - metabolism
Intermediate Filament Proteins - ultrastructure
Intermediate filaments
Intermediate Filaments - metabolism
Intermediate Filaments - ultrastructure
Invertebrates - metabolism
Keratin
Keratins - metabolism
Keratins - ultrastructure
Mammals - metabolism
Mice
Microtubules - metabolism
Microtubules - ultrastructure
Molecular biology
MTOC
Proteins
Transgenic models
Vectorial secretion
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Intermediate filaments have long been considered mechanical components of the cell that provide resistance to deformation stress. Practical experimental problems, including insolubility, lack of good pharmacological antagonists, and the paucity of powerful genetic models have handicapped the research of other functions. In single-layered epithelial cells, keratin intermediate filaments are cortical, either apically polarized or apico-lateral. This review analyzes phenotypes of genetic manipulations of simple epithelial cell keratins in mice and Caenorhabditis elegans that strongly suggest a role of keratins in apico-basal polarization and membrane traffic. Published evidence that intermediate filaments can act as scaffolds for proteins involved in membrane traffic and signaling is also discussed. Such a scaffolding function would generate a highly polarized compartment within the cytoplasm of simple epithelial cells. While in most cases mechanistic explanations for the keratin-null or overexpression phenotypes are still missing, it is hoped that investigators will be encouraged to study these as yet poorly understood functions of intermediate filaments.
ISSN:0014-4827
1090-2422
DOI:10.1016/j.yexcr.2007.02.030