Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Würzburg, Germany.
Ann Anat. 2011 May;193(3):177-80. doi: 10.1016/j.aanat.2011.02.003. Epub 2011 Mar 5.
Desmosomes are distinct intercellular contacts essential to the integrity of epithelial tissues and the heart muscle. This function is impaired in the disease pemphigus, in which patients develop autoantibodies against the cadherin-type desmosomal core proteins desmogleins. Autoantibody binding induces loss of cell-cell adhesion leading to blisters within the epidermis and mucous membranes. Despite the relevance of desmosomes for integrity of such essential organs as the skin, data on the regulation of desmosome assembly and maintenance and desmosome-mediated adhesion are only slowly emerging. Small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) of the Rho family have long been established as regulators of other cell junctions such as adherens junctions, but also have been implicated in participating in the formation of desmosomes. In this short review we summarize two papers from our group dealing with the role of Rho family GTPases for desmosomal adhesion and pemphigus and discuss these data integrating novel work recently published.
桥粒是细胞间的特殊连接，对于上皮组织和心肌的完整性至关重要。在天疱疮这种疾病中，桥粒的核心蛋白桥粒芯糖蛋白的自身抗体的产生损害了这一功能。自身抗体的结合导致细胞间黏附丧失，从而导致表皮和黏膜内水疱的形成。尽管桥粒对于皮肤等重要器官的完整性至关重要，但关于桥粒组装和维持以及桥粒介导的黏附的调节的数据只是缓慢出现。Rho 家族的小分子鸟苷三磷酸酶（GTPases）早已被确定为其他细胞连接（如黏附连接）的调节剂，但也被认为参与了桥粒的形成。在这篇简短的综述中，我们总结了我们小组的两篇论文，内容涉及 Rho 家族 GTPases 对桥粒黏附和天疱疮的作用，并结合最近发表的新工作讨论了这些数据。
