Vimentin is one of the mammalian intermediate filament proteins. It is expressed in cells of mesenchymal origin and is characteristic of proliferating cells at the fetal stage. During malignancy, vimentin expression is activated in certain lung epithelial cells. Examination of a group of lung cancer cells showed a marked difference in their vimentin expression. The difference in vimentin expres...

The cytoskeleton protein vimentin is dramatically altered following pathological events such as fibrosis and tumorigenesis. Vimentin binds to multivalent N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) molecules at the cell surface and interacts with O-linked β-GlcNAc proteins. Moreover, dying cells can be engulfed by neighboring cells through surface interactions between vimentin and many O-GlcNAc proteins in ce...

Anaplasma phagocytophilum is an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen of humans and animals. The A. phagocytophium-occupied vacuole (ApV) is a critical host-pathogen interface. Here, we report that the intermediate filaments, keratin and vimentin, assemble on the ApV early and remain associated with the ApV throughout infection. Microtubules localize to the ApV to a lesser extent. Vimentin,...

The integration of the vimentin intermediate filament (IF) cytoskeleton and cellular organelles in vivo is an incompletely understood process, and the identities of proteins participating in such events are largely unknown. Here, we show that the Golgi complex interacts with the vimentin IF cytoskeleton, and that the Golgi protein formiminotransferase cyclodeaminase (FTCD) participates in this ...

Using two types of anti-phosphopeptide antibodies which specifically recognize vimentin phosphorylated by protein kinase C (PKC) at two distinct PKC sites, we found that PKC acted as a mitotic vimentin kinase. Temporal change of vimentin phosphorylation by PKC differed form changes by cdc2 kinase. The mitosis-specific vimentin phosphorylation by PKC was dramatically enhanced by treatment with a...

The synthesis and assembly of vimentin was studied in erythroid cells from 10-d-old chicken embryos. After various periods of [35S]methionine incorporation, cells were lysed in a Triton X-100-containing buffer and separated into a soluble and an insoluble (cytoskeletal) fraction. Analysis of these two fractions by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis shows that vimentin is almost exclusively pre...

Peptidylarginine deiminase type 2 (PADI2) deiminates (or citrullinates) arginine residues in protein to citrulline residues in a Ca2+-dependent manner, and is found in lymphocytes and macrophages. Vimentin is an intermediate filament protein and a well-known substrate of PADI2. Citrullinated vimentin is found in ionomycin-induced macrophage apoptosis. Citrullinated vimentin is the target of ant...

Intermediate filaments are important beams in cell architecture. Keratin filaments, neurofilaments, the constituents of the nuclear lamina and the vimentin network are examples of these structures, which confer mechanical resistance to cells and at the same time are flexible and dynamic. Vimentin is an intermediate filament protein expressed in mesenchymal cells. Leading-edge research in the la...

Human cells were transfected with a mouse vimentin cDNA expression vector containing the hormone response element of mouse mammary tumor virus. The distribution of mouse vimentin after induction with dexamethasone was examined by indirect immunofluorescence with antivimentin antibodies specific for either mouse or human vimentin. In stably transfected HeLa cells, which contain vimentin filament...