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Intermediate filaments of the lung

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Abstract

Intermediate filaments (IF), a subfamily of the cytoskeletal filaments, provide structural support to cells. Human diseases related to mutations in IF proteins in which their tissue-specific expression is reflected have been found in a broad range of patients. The properties of identified IF mutants are well-studied in vitro in cultured cells and in vivo using transgenic mice expressing IF mutants. However, the association of IF proteins with diseases of the lung is not fully studied yet. Epithelial cells in normal lung express vimentin and various keratins, and the patterns of their expression are altered depending on the progression of the lung diseases. A growing number of studies performed in alveolar epithelial cells demonstrated IF involvement in disease-related aspects including their usefulness as tumor marker, in epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cell migration. However, the lung disease-associated IF functions in animal models are poorly understood, and IF mutations associated with lung diseases in humans have not been reported. In this review, we summarize recent studies that show the significance of IF proteins in lung epithelial cells. Understanding these aspects is an important prerequisite for further investigations on the role of lung IF in animal models and human lung diseases.

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Abbreviations

AEC:

Alveolar epithelial cell

EMT:

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition

GFAP:

Glial fibrillary acidic protein

IF:

Intermediate filament

K:

Keratin

NSCLC:

Non-small cell lung carcinoma

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SCLC:

Small cell lung carcinoma

TGFβ1:

Transforming growth factor beta 1

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Acknowledgments

We thank Sujin Kim for assistance with immune staining. This work was supported by Korean Research WCU project (R31-10086) from the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and Health grant (A111769) from Korea Health Industry Development Institute (N.-O. K).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrated OMICS for Biomedical Science, WCU Program of Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul, 120-749, Korea

    Hayan Yi & Nam-On Ku

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  1. Hayan Yi
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  2. Nam-On Ku
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Correspondence to Nam-On Ku.

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Yi, H., Ku, NO. Intermediate filaments of the lung. Histochem Cell Biol 140, 65–69 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-013-1105-x

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