Proteins involved in the attachment of actin to the plasma membrane

Proteins that may be involved in two types of actin-membrane association are discussed. The first set includes α-actinin, vinculin, fimbrin and a new cytoskeletal protein that are all concentrated in adhesion plaques, those regions of cultured fibroblasts where bundles of actin microfilaments terminate and where the plasma membrane comes close to the underlying substrate. The properties of non-muscle α-actinin suggest that it functions to cross-link actin filaments and thereby stabilize microfilament bundles rather than functioning in their attachment to the membrane. Fimbrin also appears to be involved in bundling of filaments rather than in attachment. In contrast, vinculin binds to the ends of actin filaments in vitro and is probably the best candidate for a role in the attachment of actin to membranes at the adhesion plaque. The discovery of a new protein, 215k, of unknown function, in the adhesion plaque suggests that many more proteins remain to be identified in this region. Attachment of actin filaments to other regions of the plasma membrane is also considered and a protein is described that seems to be a spectrin homologue in brain and other tissues. The brain protein resembles erythrocyte spectrin in its physical properties, in binding actin, in being associated with cell membranes and in crossreacting immunologically. We suggest that the brain protein and erythrocyte spectrin both belong to a family of related proteins (the spectrins) which function in the attachment of actin to membranes in many different cell types.

1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (6) ◽  
pp. 1623-1631 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Footer ◽  
A. Bretscher

The isolated intestinal microvillus cytoskeleton (core) consists of four major proteins: actin, villin, fimbrin and brush border myosin-I. These proteins can assemble in vitro into structures resembling native microvillus cores. Of these components, villin and brush border myosin-I show tissue-specific expression, so they may be involved in the morphogenesis of intestinal microvilli. When introduced into cultured cells that normally lack the protein, villin induces a reorganization of the actin filaments to generate large surface microvilli. Here we examine the consequences of microinjecting brush border myosin-I either alone or together with villin into cultured fibroblasts. Injection of brush border myosin-I has no discernible effect on the overall morphology of the cells, but does become localized to either normal or villin-induced microvilli and other surface structures containing an actin cytoskeleton. Since some endogenous myosin-Is have been found associated with cytoplasmic vesicles, these results show that brush border myosin-I has a domain that specifically targets it to the plasma membrane in both intestinal and cultured cell systems. Ultrastructural examination of microvilli on control cultured cells revealed that they contain a far more highly ordered bundle of microfilaments than had been previously appreciated. The actin filaments in microvilli of villin-injected cells appeared to be more tightly cross-linked when examined by thin-section electron microscopy. In intestinal microvilli, the core bundle is separated from the plasma membrane by about 30 nm due to the presence of brush border myosin-I.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Author(s):  
J. R. Feramisco ◽  
K. Burridge

Understanding the interactions between cell surface components and the underlying cytoskeleton continues to be a major goal in cell biology. In particular, little is known about the molecules involved in linking actin filaments to the plasma membrane in cells such as fibroblasts. A protein with a molecular weight of 130,000 (the 130K protein) was recently purified from smooth muscle by Geiger and localized to the ends of microfilament bundles in a variety of cell types. Independently we had purified this protein and were studying its possible interactions with other structural proteins when we learned of its interesting location, one that would be consistent with some role in the attachment of actin filaments to the plasma membrane. We were prompted to investigate this interesting protein further by microinjection of the f1uorescent1y labeled protein into living cells, a technique which had recently been successfully applied to the study of α-actinin.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
José de Oliveira-Santos ◽  
Viviane Abreu Nunes ◽  
Ilana Cruz-Silva ◽  
Priscila Praxedes-Garcia ◽  
Andrezza Justino Gozzo ◽  
...  

Human neutrophil elastase (HNE) has been shown to be involved on death of different cell types, including epithelial lung cells, which is related to several pulmonary diseases. Since HNE activity may be influenced by extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules such as glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), and fibroblasts are the most common ECM-producing cells of lung connective tissue, the aim of this work was to verify if HNE can induce fibroblast death and to study the enzyme modulation by GAGs. HNE-like activity was mimicked by using human neutrophils conditioned medium (NCM). Heparan sulfate and chondroitin 6-sulfate reduce the enzyme activity and modify its secondary structure. NCM reduced cell viability, and this effect was higher in the presence of those GAGs. NCM also increased DNA fragmentation, suggesting the occurrence of apoptosis, but without influence of GAGs. These results can contribute to the understanding of HNE modulation in physio- and pathological processes where this enzyme is involved.


2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 855
Author(s):  
Dinko Mitrečić ◽  
Valentina Hribljan ◽  
Denis Jagečić ◽  
Jasmina Isaković ◽  
Federica Lamberto ◽  
...  

From the first success in cultivation of cells in vitro, it became clear that developing cell and/or tissue specific cultures would open a myriad of new opportunities for medical research. Expertise in various in vitro models has been developing over decades, so nowadays we benefit from highly specific in vitro systems imitating every organ of the human body. Moreover, obtaining sufficient number of standardized cells allows for cell transplantation approach with the goal of improving the regeneration of injured/disease affected tissue. However, different cell types bring different needs and place various types of hurdles on the path of regenerative neurology and regenerative cardiology. In this review, written by European experts gathered in Cost European action dedicated to neurology and cardiology-Bioneca, we present the experience acquired by working on two rather different organs: the brain and the heart. When taken into account that diseases of these two organs, mostly ischemic in their nature (stroke and heart infarction), bring by far the largest burden of the medical systems around Europe, it is not surprising that in vitro models of nervous and heart muscle tissue were in the focus of biomedical research in the last decades. In this review we describe and discuss hurdles which still impair further progress of regenerative neurology and cardiology and we detect those ones which are common to both fields and some, which are field-specific. With the goal to elucidate strategies which might be shared between regenerative neurology and cardiology we discuss methodological solutions which can help each of the fields to accelerate their development.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Antonino ◽  
Paula Marmo ◽  
Carlos Leandro Freites ◽  
Gonzalo Quassollo ◽  
Maria Florencia Sanchez ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by a cognitive impairment associated to amyloid beta (Aβ) aggregation and deposition in the brain. Aβ is generated by sequential cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by β-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) and γ-secretase complex. The mechanisms that underlie exacerbated production of Aβ, favoring its deposition in the brain, is largely unknown. In vitro studies have shown that Aβ aggregates trigger enhanced production of Aβ by a yet non described mechanism. Here, we show that in different cell types, including human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), oligomers and fibrils of Aβ enhance the convergence and interaction of APP and BACE1 in endosomal compartments. We demonstrated a key role of Aβ-APP/Go/Gβγ signaling on the amyloidogenic processing of APP. We show that APP mutants with impaired capacity to bind Aβ or to activate Go protein, are unable to exacerbate APP and BACE1 colocalization in the presence of Aβ. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of Gβγ subunits signaling with gallein, abrogate Aβ-dependent interaction of APP and BACE1 in endosomes preventing β-processing of APP. Collectively, these findings uncover a feed-forward mechanism of amyloidogenesis that might contribute to Aβ pathology in early stages of AD and suggest that gallein might have clinical relevance.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 325
Author(s):  
Petra Korać ◽  
Mariastefania Antica ◽  
Maja Matulić

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNA involved in the regulation of specific mRNA translation. They participate in cellular signaling circuits and can act as oncogenes in tumor development, so-called oncomirs, as well as tumor suppressors. miR-7 is an ancient miRNA involved in the fine-tuning of several signaling pathways, acting mainly as tumor suppressor. Through downregulation of PI3K and MAPK pathways, its dominant role is the suppression of proliferation and survival, stimulation of apoptosis and inhibition of migration. Besides these functions, it has numerous additional roles in the differentiation process of different cell types, protection from stress and chromatin remodulation. One of the most investigated tissues is the brain, where its downregulation is linked with glioblastoma cell proliferation. Its deregulation is found also in other tumor types, such as in liver, lung and pancreas. In some types of lung and oral carcinoma, it can act as oncomir. miR-7 roles in cell fate determination and maintenance of cell homeostasis are still to be discovered, as well as the possibilities of its use as a specific biotherapeutic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5818
Author(s):  
Gaylia Jean Harry

A change in microglia structure, signaling, or function is commonly associated with neurodegeneration. This is evident in the patient population, animal models, and targeted in vitro assays. While there is a clear association, it is not evident that microglia serve as an initiator of neurodegeneration. Rather, the dynamics imply a close interaction between the various cell types and structures in the brain that orchestrate the injury and repair responses. Communication between microglia and neurons contributes to the physiological phenotype of microglia maintaining cells in a surveillance state and allows the cells to respond to events occurring in their environment. Interactions between microglia and astrocytes is not as well characterized, nor are interactions with other members of the neurovascular unit; however, given the influence of systemic factors on neuroinflammation and disease progression, such interactions likely represent significant contributes to any neurodegenerative process. In addition, they offer multiple target sites/processes by which environmental exposures could contribute to neurodegenerative disease. Thus, microglia at least play a role as a significant other with an equal partnership; however, claiming a role as an initiator of neurodegeneration remains somewhat controversial.


1984 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 95s-103s ◽  
Author(s):  
P Mangeat ◽  
K Burridge

In this review we discuss some of the proteins for which a role in linking actin to the fibroblast plasma membrane has been suggested. We focus on the family of proteins related to erythrocyte spectrin, proteins that have generally been viewed as having an organization and a function in actin-membrane attachment similar to those of erythrocyte spectrin. Experiments in which we precipitated the nonerythrocyte spectrin within living fibroblasts have led us to question this supposed similarity of organization and function of the nonerythrocyte and erythrocyte spectrins. Intracellular precipitation of fibroblast spectrin does not affect the integrity of the major actin-containing structures, the stress fiber microfilament bundles. Unexpectedly, however, we found that the precipitation of spectrin results in a condensation and altered distribution of the vimentin class of intermediate filaments in most cells examined. Although fibroblast spectrin may have a role in the attachment of some of the cortical, submembranous actin, it is surprising how little the intracellular immunoprecipitation of the spectrin affects the cells. Several proteins have been found concentrated at the ends of stress fibers, where the actin filaments terminate at focal contacts. Two of these proteins, alpha-actinin and fimbrin, have properties that suggest that they are not involved in the attachment of the ends of the bundles to the membrane but are more probably involved in the organization and cross-linking of the filaments within the bundles. On the other hand, vinculin and talin are two proteins that interact with each other and may form part of a chain of attachments between the ends of the microfilament bundles and the focal contact membrane. Their role in this attachment, however, has not been established and further work is needed to examine their interaction with actin and to identify any other components with which they may interact, particularly in the plasma membrane.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3389
Author(s):  
Ishtiaq Ahmed ◽  
Saif Ur Rehman ◽  
Shiva Shahmohamadnejad ◽  
Muhammad Anjum Zia ◽  
Muhammad Ahmad ◽  
...  

In humans, various sites like cannabinoid receptors (CBR) having a binding affinity with cannabinoids are distributed on the surface of different cell types, where endocannabinoids (ECs) and derivatives of fatty acid can bind. The binding of these substance(s) triggers the activation of specific receptors required for various physiological functions, including pain sensation, memory, and appetite. The ECs and CBR perform multiple functions via the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1); cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2), having a key effect in restraining neurotransmitters and the arrangement of cytokines. The role of cannabinoids in the immune system is illustrated because of their immunosuppressive characteristics. These characteristics include inhibition of leucocyte proliferation, T cells apoptosis, and induction of macrophages along with reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines secretion. The review seeks to discuss the functional relationship between the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and anti-tumor characteristics of cannabinoids in various cancers. The therapeutic potential of cannabinoids for cancer—both in vivo and in vitro clinical trials—has also been highlighted and reported to be effective in mice models in arthritis for the inflammation reduction, neuropathic pain, positive effect in multiple sclerosis and type-1 diabetes mellitus, and found beneficial for treating in various cancers. In human models, such studies are limited; thereby, further research is indispensable in this field to get a conclusive outcome. Therefore, in autoimmune disorders, therapeutic cannabinoids can serve as promising immunosuppressive and anti-fibrotic agents.


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