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Vimentin and lipid raft maintenance (p. 713)

Vimentin is a cytoskeletal intermediate filament present in most cultured cells, embryonic mesenchymal and endodermal cells, and adult mesenchyme-derived cells. It is also expressed in certain pathological conditions — for example, in renal proximal tubule cells recovering from ischemia. Whether it has a significant role in vivo is debatable; however, given that vimentin-null (Vim^-/-) mice appear normal, the filament might simply be a marker for dedifferentiated cells. Fabiola Terzi and co-workers have investigated its role by comparing Vim^-/- and wild-type renal proximal tubule cells. They observe that the Vim^-/- cells exhibit dramatically reduced Na⁺-glucose cotransport and that this correlates with reduced levels of the cotransporter SGLT1 in lipid rafts. The authors show that methyl-ß-cyclodextrin (an extracellular cholesterol acceptor that disrupts rafts) produces similar effects in wild-type cells. Significantly, they also show that vimentin normally associates with rafts but disappears following methyl-ß-cyclodextrin treatment. Terzi and co-workers conclude that vimentin is critical for the function of the raft-based transporter, suggesting that it somehow maintains the physical state of certain membrane microdomains.

Related articles in JCS:

Vimentin affects localization and activity of sodium-glucose cotransporter SGLT1 in membrane rafts

Isabelle Runembert, Guillaume Queffeulou, Pierre Federici, François Vrtovsnik, Emma Colucci-Guyon, Charles Babinet, Pascale Briand, Germain Trugnan, Gérard Friedlander, and Fabiola Terzi
JCS 2002 115: 713-724. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content