TY - JOUR
T1 - Desmosomes in acquired disease
AU - Stahley, Sara N.
AU - Kowalczyk, Andrew P.
N1 - Funding Information:
A.P.K. is supported by the National Institutes of Health R01AR050501 and R01AR048266. S.N.S. was supported in part by T32GM008367. Additional support was provided by the Emory University Integrated Cellular Imaging Microscopy Core.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2015/6/4
Y1 - 2015/6/4
N2 - Desmosomes are cell-cell junctions that mediate adhesion and couple the intermediate filament cytoskeleton to sites of cell-cell contact. This architectural arrangement integrates adhesion and cytoskeletal elements of adjacent cells. The importance of this robust adhesion system is evident in numerous human diseases, both inherited and acquired, which occur when desmosome function is compromised. This review focuses on autoimmune and infectious diseases that impair desmosome function. In addition, we discuss emerging evidence that desmosomal genes are often misregulated in cancer. The emphasis of our discussion is placed on the way in which human diseases can inform our understanding of basic desmosome biology and in turn, the means by which fundamental advances in the cell biology of desmosomes might lead to new treatments for acquired diseases of the desmosome.
AB - Desmosomes are cell-cell junctions that mediate adhesion and couple the intermediate filament cytoskeleton to sites of cell-cell contact. This architectural arrangement integrates adhesion and cytoskeletal elements of adjacent cells. The importance of this robust adhesion system is evident in numerous human diseases, both inherited and acquired, which occur when desmosome function is compromised. This review focuses on autoimmune and infectious diseases that impair desmosome function. In addition, we discuss emerging evidence that desmosomal genes are often misregulated in cancer. The emphasis of our discussion is placed on the way in which human diseases can inform our understanding of basic desmosome biology and in turn, the means by which fundamental advances in the cell biology of desmosomes might lead to new treatments for acquired diseases of the desmosome.
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U2 - 10.1007/s00441-015-2155-2
DO - 10.1007/s00441-015-2155-2
M3 - Review article
C2 - 25795143
AN - SCOPUS:84930276235
SN - 0302-766X
VL - 360
SP - 439
EP - 456
JO - Cell and Tissue Research
JF - Cell and Tissue Research
IS - 3
ER -