Roles of the nectin-afadin system in epithelial-mesenchymal and mesenchymal-epithelial transitions

细胞-细胞连接的破坏和细胞运动的增加在上皮-间充质转化中起重要作用。另一方面，细胞间连接的形成和相邻细胞之间界面处的细胞极化对于间质-上皮转化至关重要。在这项研究中，nectin样分子，它类似于细胞粘附分子nectin在其分子结构，afadin，它结合到细胞质区域的nectin，和他们的相关分子被证明是促进生长因子诱导的细胞运动。并阐明了其作用机制。afadin与另一种衔接蛋白的相互作用是上皮细胞极化所必需的。

The disruption of cell-cell junctions and the increase in cell movement play important roles in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. On the other hand, the cell-cell junction formation and cell polarization at the interface between neighboring cells are crucial for the mesenchymal-epithelial transition. In this study, nectin-like molecules, which resemble cell adhesion molecules nectins in their molecular structure, afadin, which binds to the cytoplasmic region of nectins, and their related molecules were shown to promote the growth factor-induced cell movement. The underlying mechanisms were also elucidated. The interaction of afadin with another adaptor protein was essential for the cell polarization of epithelial cells.