INTERMEDIATE FILAMENT CELL SURFACE INTERACTIONS

这些研究的目标是确定哺乳动物细胞中中间丝及其相关蛋白的结构和功能。中间丝是主要的细胞骨架结构，它们的组成蛋白因细胞类型的不同而不同。这项研究的具体目的是确定中间细丝网络组装的潜在机制，中间细丝与微管的相互作用，以及它们的动态和运动特性的调节。这些研究中使用的技术包括光学显微镜和电子显微镜、单细胞显微注射方法、蛋白质的生化特性以及在培养的哺乳动物细胞中克隆和转基因野生型和突变型cDNA。这些研究的结果与人类健康有关，因为已经证明，许多疾病与组成中间纤维的结构蛋白突变有关，还有其他疾病，中间纤维的异常堆积是疾病的病理标志。后者包括酒精性肝病中Mallory小体的形成和帕金森病中的路易小体的形成。

The goals of these studies are to determine the structure and function of intermediate filaments and their associated proteins in mammalian cells. Intermediate filaments are major cytoskeletal structures and their constituent proteins vary in a cell type specific fashion. The specific aims of the proposed research are to determine the mechanisms underlying the assembly of intermediate filament networks, the interactions of intermediate filaments with microtubules, and the regulation of their dynamic and motile properties. The techniques employed in these studies include light and electron microscopy, single cell microinjection methods, biochemical characterization of proteins, and the cloning and transfection of wild type and mutant cDNAs in cultured mammalian cells. The results of these studies are related to human health as it has been demonstrated that there are many diseases linked to mutations in the structural proteins comprising intermediate filaments and there are other diseases in which abnormal accumulations of intermediate filaments are a pathological hallmark of disease. The latter include the formation of Mallory bodies in alcoholic liver disease and Lewy bodies in Parkinson's disease.