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Extracellular Vimentin Is Sufficient To Promote Cell Attachment, Spreading, And Motility By A Mechanism Involving N-Acetyl Glucosamine-Containing Structures, Robert Bucki, Daniel V. Iwamoto, Xuechen Shi, Katherine E. Kerr, Fitzroy J. Byfield, Lukasz Suprewicz, Karol Sklodowski, Julian Sutaria, Pawel Misiak, Agnieszka Z. Wilczewska, Sekar Ramachandran, Aaron Wolfe, Minh H. Thanh, Eli Whalen, Alison E. Patteson, Paul A. Janmey

Physics - All Scholarship

Vimentin intermediate !laments form part of the cytoskeleton

of mesenchymal cells, but under pathological conditions often

associatedwith in"ammation, vimentin !laments depolymerize as

the result of phosphorylation or citrullination, and vimentin

oligomers are secreted or released into the extracellular environment.

In the extracellular space, vimentin can bind surfaces of cells

and the extracellular matrix, and the interaction between extracellular

vimentin and cells can trigger changes in cellular functions,

such as activation of !broblasts to a !brotic phenotype. The

mechanism by which extracellular vimentin binds external cell

membranes and whether vimentin alone can act as an adhesive

anchor for cells is largely …