Ivaska Johanna, Pallari Hanna-Mari, Nevo Jonna, Eriksson John E
VTT Medical Biotechnology, Itäinen Pitkäkatu 4C, FI-20520 Turku, Finland.
Exp Cell Res. 2007 Jun 10;313(10):2050-62. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2007.03.040. Epub 2007 Apr 14.
Vimentin is the major intermediate filament (IF) protein of mesenchymal cells. It shows dynamically altered expression patterns during different developmental stages and high sequence homology throughout all vertebrates, suggesting that the protein is physiologically important. Still, until recently, the real tasks of vimentin have been elusive, primarily because the vimentin-deficient mice were originally characterized as having a very mild phenotype. Recent studies have revealed several key functions for vimentin that were not obvious at first sight. Vimentin emerges as an organizer of a number of critical proteins involved in attachment, migration, and cell signaling. The highly dynamic and complex phosphorylation of vimentin seems to be a likely regulator mechanism for these functions. The implicated novel vimentin functions have broad ramifications into many different aspects of cell physiology, cellular interactions, and organ homeostasis.
波形蛋白是间充质细胞的主要中间丝（IF）蛋白。它在不同发育阶段表现出动态变化的表达模式，并且在所有脊椎动物中具有高度的序列同源性，这表明该蛋白具有重要的生理意义。然而，直到最近，波形蛋白的实际功能仍不清楚，主要是因为最初对波形蛋白缺陷小鼠的特征描述是具有非常轻微的表型。最近的研究揭示了波形蛋白的几个乍一看并不明显的关键功能。波形蛋白成为参与黏附、迁移和细胞信号传导的多种关键蛋白的组织者。波形蛋白高度动态和复杂的磷酸化似乎是这些功能的一种可能的调节机制。所涉及的波形蛋白新功能对细胞生理学、细胞间相互作用和器官稳态的许多不同方面都有广泛影响。
