ORCID

Alison E. Patteson: 0000-0002-4004-1734

Document Type

Article

Date

Fall 9-6-2020

Language

English

Funder(s)

National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health

Funding ID

NIH P01 GM096971, NSF MCB 2032861

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants NIH P01 GM096971 (A.V., R.D.G., and P.A.J.) and NSF MCB 2032861 (A.E.P.).

Official Citation

Patteson AE, Vahabikashi A, Goldman RD, Janmey PA. Mechanical and Non-Mechanical Functions of Filamentous and Non-Filamentous Vimentin. Bioessays. 2020 Nov;42(11):e2000078. doi: 10.1002/bies.202000078. Epub 2020 Sep 6. PMID: 32893352; PMCID: PMC8349470.

Disciplines

Physics

Description/Abstract

Intermediate filaments (IFs) formed by vimentin are less understood than their cytoskeletal partners, microtubules and F-actin, but the unique physical properties of IFs, especially their resistance to large deformations, initially suggest a mechanical function. Indeed, vimentin IFs help regulate cell mechanics and contractility, and in crowded 3D environments they protect the nucleus during cell migration. Recently, a multitude of studies, often using genetic or proteomic screenings show that vimentin has many non-mechanical functions within and outside of cells. These include signaling roles in wound healing, lipogenesis, sterol processing, and various functions related to extracellular and cell surface vimentin. Extracellular vimentin is implicated in marking circulating tumor cells, promoting neural repair, and mediating the invasion of host cells by viruses, including SARS-CoV, or bacteria such as Listeria and Streptococcus. These findings underscore the fundamental role of vimentin in not only cell mechanics but also a range of physiological functions. Also see the video abstract here https://youtu.be/YPfoddqvz-g.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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