Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC) remains a leading cause of cancer death. Resistance to therapy is a significant problem, highlighting the need to find new ways of sensitising tumour cells to therapeutic agents. βIII-tubulin is associated with aggressive tumours and chemotherapy resistance in a range of cancers including NSCLC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFβIII-tubulin is a neuronal microtubule protein that is aberrantly expressed in epithelial cancers. The microtubule network is implicated in regulating the architecture and dynamics of the mitochondrial network, although the isotype-specific role for β-tubulin proteins that constitute this microtubule network remains unclear. High-resolution electron microscopy revealed that manipulation of βIII-tubulin expression levels impacts the volume and shape of mitochondria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell migration is important for development and its aberrant regulation contributes to many diseases. The Scar/WAVE complex is essential for Arp2/3 mediated lamellipodia formation during mesenchymal cell migration and several coinciding signals activate it. However, so far, no direct negative regulators are known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe actin cytoskeleton is the primary driver of cellular adhesion and mechanosensing due to its ability to generate force and sense the stiffness of the environment. At the cell's leading edge, severing of the protruding Arp2/3 actin network generates a specific actin/tropomyosin (Tpm) filament population that controls lamellipodial persistence. The interaction between these filaments and adhesion to the environment is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInteractions between different cell types can induce distinct contact inhibition of locomotion (CIL) responses that are hypothesised to control population-wide behaviours during embryogenesis. However, our understanding of the signals that lead to cell-type specific repulsion and the precise capacity of heterotypic CIL responses to drive emergent behaviours is lacking. Using a new model of heterotypic CIL, we show that fibrosarcoma cells, but not fibroblasts, are actively repelled by epithelial cells in culture.
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