Polarity Establishment in Yeast

描述(由申请人提供)：CDC42在细胞对各种信号的极化中起关键作用(例如，T细胞对抗原提呈细胞的极化，纤维母细胞对伤口部位的极化，或酵母芽的形成)。人的CDC42可以在功能上替代酵母，这表明CDC42的关键功能已经被高度保守，并且应用遗传、生化和细胞生物学方法的能力使酵母成为描述CDC42在细胞极化中作用机制的非常强大的系统。这项拟议的研究的目标是了解CdC42极化是如何调节的，以及这一过程是如何受到限制的，从而使细胞只形成一个极化“前沿”。癌细胞表现出细胞形状、细胞间黏附和细胞运动的变化(所有依赖于肌动蛋白的过程都由CDC42调节)，这些变化可能对恶性转化的许多方面起着重要作用。哺乳动物细胞中CDC42的解除调控促进了锚定非依赖性生长，对于RAS转化的细胞中发生的形态变化(以及锚定独立性)是必要的。因此，CDC42的去调控影响癌细胞的增殖和转移潜能。了解CDC42的正常调控和功能是解决它们的错误调控可能如何促进癌症的重要的第一步。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cdc42 plays a key role in the polarization of cells towards a variety of signals (e.g., T cell polarization towards antigen-presenting cells, fibroblas polarization towards wound sites, or yeast bud formation). Human CDC42 can functionally substitute for its yeast counterpart, suggesting that key functions of Cdc42 have been highly conserved, and the ability to apply genetic, biochemical, and cell biological approaches makes yeast a very powerful system for delineating the mechanism of Cdc42 action in cell polarization. The goal of the proposed research is to understand how Cdc42 polarization is regulated, and how the process is restricted so that cells only form one polarization "front". Cancer cells display alterations of cell shape, cell-cell adhesion, and cell motility (all actin-dependent processes regulated by Cdc42), which are likely to be important for numerous aspects of malignant transformation. Deregulation of Cdc42 in mammalian cells promotes anchorage-independent growth, and is necessary for the morphological changes (as well as anchorage independence) that occur in Ras-transformed cells. Thus, Cdc42 deregulation affects the proliferation as well as the metastatic potential of cancer cells. Understanding the normal regulation and function of Cdc42 is an important first step towards addressing how their misregulation might promote cancer.