Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
4
pubmed:dateCreated
1997-4-29
pubmed:abstractText
The expression of intermediate filament proteins is remarkably tissue-specific which suggests that the intermediate filament (IF) type(s) present in cells is somehow related to their biological function. However, in some cancers-particularly malignant melanoma and breast carcinoma, there is a strong indication that vimentin and keratin IFs are coexpressed, thus presenting as a dedifferentiated or interconverted (between epithelial and mesenchymal) phenotype. In this review, two in vitro models are presented which recapitulate the interconverted phenotype in human melanoma and breast carcinoma, and allow, for the first time, unique observations to be made with respect to the role of IFs in cancer progression. These studies have provided direct evidence linking overexpression of keratin IFs in human melanoma with increased migratory and invasive activity in vitro, which can be down-regulated by substituting dominant-negative keratin mutants. Overexpression of vimentin IFs in the breast carcinoma model leads to augmentation of motility and invasiveness in vitro, which can be transiently down-regulated by treatment with antisense oligonucleotides to vimentin. Additional experimental evidence suggests that the mechanism(s) responsible for the differential expression of metastatic properties associated with the interconverted phenotype rest(s) in the unique interaction, either direct or indirect, of IFs with specific integrins interacting with the extracellular matrix. In this review, we discuss the observations derived from the human melanoma and breast carcinoma models to address the hypothesis that the ability to coexpress vimentin and keratins confers a selective advantage to tumor cells in their interpretation of and response to signaling cues from the extracellular matrix. The ramifications of these observations are discussed with respect to the patholophysiology of the respective in situ tumors.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Dec
pubmed:issn
0167-7659
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
15
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
507-25
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1996
pubmed:articleTitle
Role of intermediate filaments in migration, invasion and metastasis.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242-1109, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't