Intermediate Filament Proteins as Distinguishing Markers of Cell Type and Differentiated State in Cultured Human Urinary Tract Epithelia
Year: 1985
Type: article
Abstract: The epithelia are remarkably diverse with respect to cell morphology, tissue structure, and modes of growth regulation, befitting the wide range of functions they perform.Identification of the growth factors, hormones, and nutritional components that a variety of epithelial cell types require for serial cultivation is permitting investigation of the mechanisms regulating their growth and synthesis of differentiation-related proteins.It is now known that the keratins (subunit proteins of the epithelial cell-specific type of intermediate filament) are a large family of about 20 different proteins.A subset of from two to ten of these keratins is expressed by each epithelial cell type in vivo and in culture'-' as a stable feature of its differentiated state, although often subject to extrinsic modulation?-]*Recently this laboratory has been studying the mesothelial cell-a simple squamous epithelial cell type, derived from embryonic mesoderm -that lines the pleural, pericardial, and peritoneal cavities and covers the organs contained within these cavities.Mesothelial cells contain four keratins, different from those present in epidermal cells (FIGURE 1).6In vivu, normal mesothelium has a high keratin and a low, but detectable, 259
Authors: JAMES G. RHEINWALD, THERESE M. O'CONNELL
Institutions: Harvard University, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2072446111