Cell Adhesion & Migration

Desmosomes are intercellular junctions that regulate mechanical integrity in epithelia and cardiac muscle. Dynamic desmosome remodeling is essential for wound healing and development, yet the mechanisms governing junction assembly remain elusive. While we and others have shown that cadherin ectodomains are highly organized, how this ordered architecture emerges during assembly is unknown. Using fluorescence polarization microscopy, we show that desmoglein 2 (Dsg2) ectodomain order gradually increases during 8 h of assembly, coinciding with increasing adhesive strength...

We aimed to investigate galectin-1 overexpression induces normal fibroblasts (NFs) translates into cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Galectin-1 overexpression was conducted in Human embryonic lung fibroblasts (HFL1) cell. The motilities of H1299 and A549 cells were measured. Human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) proliferation and tube formation ability were assessed. Tumor volume and tumor weight was recorded. Cells motilities were increased, while apoptosis rates were decreased after CMs co-cultured...

Molecule interacting with CasL 1 (MICAL1) is a crucial protein involved in cell motility, axon guidance, cytoskeletal dynamics, and gene transcription. This pan-cancer study analyzed MICAL1 across 33 cancer types using bioinformatics and experiments. Dysregulated expression, diagnostic potential, and prognostic value were assessed. Associations with tumor characteristics, immune factors, and drug sensitivity were explored. Enrichment analysis revealed MICAL1's involvement in metastasis, angiogenesis, metabolism, and immune pathways...

Copines are a family of calcium-dependent membrane-binding proteins. To study these proteins, anull mutant for cpnC was created in Dictyostelium , which has six copines genes ( cpnA-cpnF ). During development, cpnC- cells were able to aggregate, but did not form streams. Once aggregated into mounds, they formed large ring structures. cpnC- cells were less adherent to plastic substrates, but more adherent to other cells. These phenotypes correlated with changes in adhesion protein expression with decreased expression of SibA and increased expression of CsaA in developing cpnC- cells...

The intensive study and investigation of neuroprotective therapy for central nervous system (CNS) diseases is ongoing. Due to shared mechanisms of neurodegeneration, a neuroprotective approach might offer benefits across multiple neurological disorders, despite variations in symptoms or injuries. C-Jun N-terminal Kinase 3 (JNK3) is found primarily in the CNS and is involved in physiological processes such as brain development, synapse formation, and memory formation. The potential of JNK3 as a target for pharmacological development holds promise for advancing neuroprotective therapies...

BACKGROUND: Analyses of collective cell migration and orientation phenomena are needed to assess the behavior of multicellular clusters. While some tools to the authors' knowledge none is capable to analyze collective migration, cellular orientation and proliferation in phase contrast images simultaneously. METHODS: We provide a tool based to analyze phase contrast images of dense cell layers. PIV is used to calculatevelocity fields, while the structure tensor provides cellular orientation...

The mammalian Sterile 20-like kinase 1/2 (MST1/2) belongs to the serine/threonine (GC) protein kinase superfamily. Collective studies confirm the vital role MST1/2 in inflammation and immunity. MST1/2 is closely related to the progress of inflammation. Generally, MST1/2 aggravates the inflammatory injury through MST1-JNK, MST1-mROS, MST1-Foxo3, and NF-κB pathways, as well as several regulatory factors such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), mitochondrial extension factor 1 (MIEF1), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)...

Lymphangiogenesis plays pivotal roles in diverse physiological and pathological conditions. Steady direct-current electric fields (DC EFs) induce vascular endothelial behaviors related to angiogenesis have been observed. This study investigated the effects of DC EFs on the lymphangiogenic response of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). We demonstrated that EFs stimulation induced directional migration, reorientation, and elongation of human LECs in culture. These lymphangiogenic responses required VEGF receptor 3 (VEGFR-3) activation and were mediated through the PI3K-Akt, Erk1/2, and p38 MAPK signaling pathways in relation to the reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton...

The aim of this study was to investigate how the concentration of interleukin-13 (IL-13) affects the regulation of endothelial cell migration after injury. The incubation of recombinant human interleukin-13 (rhIL-13) strongly increased the content of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in HUVECs via the JAK-1/STAT-3/NOX-4 signaling pathway. Antagonizing the high intracellular ROS that was induced by rhIL-13 promoted the migration of HUVECs. Furthermore, IL-13 neutralization not only inhibited intimal hyperplasia, but also promoted the migration of endothelial cells (ECs) after injury...

Cervical cancer (CC) is a very usual reproductive malignant tumor in women. RNA polymerase II-associated factor 1 (PAF1) and flotillin-2 (FLOT2) both have been discovered to key participators in cancers' progression. However, the effects of PAF1/FLOT2 axis on CC development have not been probed. In this study, PAF1 and FLOT2 exhibited higher expression, and silencing of PAF1 down-regulated FLOT2 expression in CC. In addition, the regulatory effects of PAF1 suppression on CC progression were reversed after FLOT2 overexpression...

The LMNA gene encoding lamin A/C is amplified in some clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) samples. Our data showed that depletion of the tumor suppressor PBRM1 can upregulate lamin A/C levels, and lamin A/C could interact with PBRM1. However, the role of lamin A/C in ccRCC is not yet fully understood. Our functional assays showed that although the proliferation ability was slightly impaired after LMNA depletion, the migration and invasion of ccRCC cells were significantly inhibited. This suppression was accompanied by a reduction in MMP2, MMP9, AKT/p-AKT, and Wnt/β-catenin protein levels...

E-cadherin-catenin complex together with the cytoskeleton, builds the core of Adherens junctions (AJs). It has been reported that Scribble stabilizes the coupling of E-cadherin with catenins promoting epithelial cell adhesion, but the mechanism remains unknown. We show that Scribble, Lgl1, and NMII-A reside in a complex with E-cadherin-catenin complex. Depletion of either Scribble or Lgl1 disrupts the localization of E-cadherin-catenin complex to AJs. aPKCζ phosphorylation of Lgl1 regulates AJ localization of Lgl1 and E-cadherin-catenin complexes...

The sensitivity to cold plasma is specific to tumor cells while leaving normal tissue cells unaffected. This is the desired challenge in cancer therapy. Therefore, the focus of this work was a comparative study concerning the plasma sensitivity of dermal tumor cells (A-431) versus non-tumorigenic dermal cells (HaCaT) regarding their adhesion capacity. We found a selective inhibiting effect of plasma-activated medium on the adhesion of tumor cells while hardly affecting normal cells. We attributed this to a lower basal gene expression for the adhesion-relevant components CD44, hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2), HAS3, and the hyaluronidases in A431...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the seventh most highly prevalent malignant tumor globally and the second most common cause of mortality. HCC develops with complex pathways that occur through multistage biological processes. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic-associated fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C are the causative etiologies of HCC. HCC develops as a result of epigenetic changes, protein-coding gene mutations, and altered signaling pathways...

MARCKS is an actin and PIP2-binding protein that plays an essential role in neutrophil migration and adhesion; however, the molecular details regarding MARCKS function in these processes remains unclear. Neutrophil adhesion and migration also require the cell surface receptors β2 -integrins. We hypothesized that MARCKS inhibition would alter neutrophil β2 -integrin activation and signaling. We utilized a MARCKS-targeting peptide to inhibit MARCKS in inside-out and outside-in β2 -integrin activation in neutrophils...

The role of adhesion receptor integrin αvβ3 in T-ALL was unclear. Firstly, we performed quantitative real-time PCR to assess medullary expression of integrin β3(ITGB3) in T-ALL patients and high ITGB3 expression was relevant with the central nervous system leukemia(CNSL) incidence. Decreasing of cell invasion was observed in Jurkat and Molt4 treated with integrin αvβ3 specific antibody and inhibitor as well as cells with ITGB3 interference. Further, phosphorylation of FAK, cRAF, MEK and ERK decreased in cells with integrin αvβ3 inhibition or interference...

Our study investigated the role of WTAP in colon cancer. We employed experiments including m6A dot blot hybridization, methylated RNA immunoprecipitation, dual-luciferase, and RNA immunoprecipitation to investigate the regulatory mechanism of WTAP. Western blot was performed to analyze the expression of WTAP, FLNA and autophagy-related proteins in cells. Our results confirmed the up-regulation of WTAP in colon cancer and its promoting effect on proliferation and inhibiting effect on apoptosis. FLNA was the downstream gene of WTAP and WTAP-regulated m6A modification led to post-transcriptional repression of FLNA...

The effect of cathelicidin hCAP18/LL-37 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis remains unclear. Here, we confirmed that LL-37 expression enhanced endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), migration and invasion in HCC cells. And the HER2/EGFR-MAPK/ERK signal participated in the process above. More frequent lung metastases were observed in an LL-37-overexpressing hematogenous metastasis model. Interestingly, 1,25(OH)2 D3 together with si-LL-37 significantly enhanced 1,25(OH)2 D3 -induced inhibition of migration and invasion in PLC/PRF-5 cells, and also enhanced reversion of the EMT process...

The migrasomes formation is mediated by the assembly of micron-scale tetraspanin macrodomains and the recruitment of tetraspanin 4 (TSPAN4). However, the physiological functions of TSPAN4 on migrasomes are less known. The TSPAN4 expression in macrophages in single-cell sequencing data, GEO datasets and TCGA database were determined. TSPAN4 expression was highly associated with atherosclerosis regression-related macrophages, intraplaque hemorrhage and ruptured plaques. TSPAN4 expression was upregulated in spontaneous MI and inducible MI mice model...

Cutaneous melanoma is a cancer with a very poor prognosis mainly because of metastatic dissemination and therefore a deregulation of cell migration. Current therapies can benefit from complementary medicines as supportive care in oncology. In our study, we show that a dynamized ultra-low dilution of Ruta Graveolens leads to an in vitro inhibition of migration on fibronectin of B16F10 melanoma cells, as well as a decrease in metastatic dissemination in vivo . These effects appear to be due to a disruption of plasma membrane organization, with a change in cell and membrane stiffness, associated with a disorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and a modification of the lipid composition of the plasma membrane...