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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/2003/2/287-b $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 160, Number 3, 287-b-287

Poised to migrate

Epithelial cells (green) go for a walk when Moesin is missing (right). Fehon/Macmillan

Epithelial cells are ready to run off at any moment, at least based on the results of Olga Speck, Richard Fehon (Duke University, Durham, NC), and colleagues. They have found that moesin, previously thought to be a stolid structural component, is actually a signaling protein that maintains epithelial cell identity by suppressing Rho activity.

Ezrin, radixin, and moesin (ERM)—represented only by Moesin in flies—are proteins that link actin to various transmembrane proteins at the apical surface of epithelial cells. The link was thought to help maintain epithelial structures such as microvilli, but Fehon's group found that flies lacking Moesin had epithelial cells that lost polarity, dropped out of monolayers, and migrated invasively.

Moesin appears to act by suppressing Rho. Interfering with ERM proteins in mammalian epithelial cells boosted Rho activity, and fly Moesin mutants improved when Rho1 dose was halved. Rho1 overexpression in wild type, however, phenocopied Moesin loss.Thus epithelial cells must be actively maintained in their polarized state, lest they slip off into the motile night. This instability may reflect the transitions from structured epithelium to motile founder cells that occur frequently during development—a transition that carcinoma cells apparently recapitulate when they become metastatic.

Reference:

Speck, O., et al. 2003. Nature. 421:83–87.[CrossRef][Medline]

William A. Wells

wellsw{at}rockefeller.edu

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This Article Full Text (PDF, 581K) PPT slides of all figures Alert me when this article is cited Services Email this article Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new content in the JCB Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wells, W. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Wells, W. A. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?