Introducing intermediate filaments: from discovery to disease

John Eriksson, Dechat, Grin, Helfand, Mendez, Pallari, Goldman

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview Article or Literature Reviewpeer-review

    335 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    It took more than 100 years before it was established that the proteins that form intermediate filaments (IFs) comprise a unified protein family, the members of which are ubiquitous in virtually all differentiated cells and present both in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus. However, during the past 2 decades, knowledge regarding the functions of these structures has been expanding rapidly. Many disease-related roles of IFs have been revealed. In some cases, the molecular mechanisms underlying these diseases reflect disturbances in the functions traditionally assigned to IFs, i.e., maintenance of structural and mechanical integrity of cells and tissues. However, many disease conditions seem to link to the nonmechanical functions of IFs, many of which have been defined only in the past few years.
    Original languageUndefined/Unknown
    Pages (from-to)1763–1771
    JournalJournal of Clinical Investigation
    Volume119
    Issue number7
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2009
    MoE publication typeA2 Review article in a scientific journal

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