Annexin A2, a calcium-, actin-, and lipid-binding protein involved in exocytosis, mediates the formation of lipid microdomains required for the structural and spatial organization of fusion sites at the plasma membrane. To understand how annexin A2 promotes this membrane remodeling, the involvement of cortical actin filaments in lipid domain organization was investigated. 3D electron tomography...

Annexin A2 is an abundant cellular protein that is mainly localized in the cytoplasm and plasma membrane, however a small population has been found in the nucleus, suggesting a nuclear function for the protein. Annexin A2 possesses a nuclear export sequence (NES) and inhibition of the NES is sufficient to cause nuclear accumulation. Here we show that annexin A2 accumulates in the nucleus in res...

Annexin A2 and heparin bind to one another with high affinity and in a calcium-dependentmanner, an interaction thatmay play a role inmediating fibrinolysis. In this study, three heparinderived oligosaccharides of different lengths were co-crystallized with annexin A2 to elucidate the structural basis of the interaction. Crystal structures were obtained at high resolution for uncomplexed annexin...

Hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) is an important second messenger in cellular signal transduction. H(2)O(2)-dependent signalling regulates many cellular processes, such as proliferation, differentiation, migration and apoptosis. Nevertheless, H(2)O(2) is an oxidant and a major contributor to DNA damage, protein oxidation and lipid peroxidation, which can ultimately result in cell death and/or tumou...

Annexins constitute a family of calcium and membrane binding proteins. As annexin A1 and A2 have previously been linked to various membrane trafficking events, we initiated this study to investigate the role of these annexins in the uptake and intracellular transport of the bacterial Shiga toxin (Stx) and the plant toxin ricin. Once endocytosed, both toxins are retrogradely transported from end...

Cell adhesion and motility require a dynamic remodelling of the membrane-associated actin cytoskeleton in response to extracellular stimuli that are primarily transmitted through receptor tyrosine kinases. In a cellular model system for tyrosine phosphorylation-based growth factor signaling, we observed that annexin A2 is tyrosine-phosphorylated upon insulin receptor activation. The phosphoryla...

Annexin A2 is a pleiotropic calcium- and anionic phospholipid-binding protein that exists as a monomer and as a heterotetrameric complex with the plasminogen receptor protein, S100A10. Annexin A2 has been proposed to play a key role in many processes including exocytosis, endocytosis, membrane organization, ion channel conductance, and also to link F-actin cytoskeleton to the plasma membrane. D...

Gliomas are highly invasive, lethal brain tumors. Tumor-associated proteases play an important role in glioma progression. Annexin A2 is overexpressed in many cancers and correlates with increased plasmin activity on the tumor cell surface, which mediates degradation of extracellular matrix and promotes neoangiogenesis to facilitate tumor growth. In this study, we used two glioma cell lines, mo...

Annexin A2 is a multifunctional Ca(2+)- and lipid-binding protein. We previously showed that a distinct pool of cellular Annexin A2 associates with mRNP complexes or polysomes associated with the cytoskeleton. Here we report in vitro and in vivo experiments showing that Annexin A2 present in this subset of mRNP complexes interacts with its cognate mRNA and c-myc mRNA, but not with beta(2)-micro...