Skip to main content
Fig. 4 | Respiratory Research

Fig. 4

From: The roles and regulation of the actin cytoskeleton, intermediate filaments and microtubules in smooth muscle cell migration

Fig. 4

Vimentin intermediate filaments, focal adhesions and cell migration. a Vimentin filaments may directly bind to integrins β1 or β3, or indirectly to integrins via FAK or plectin 1F. Cdc42 or PAK induces vimentin phosphorylation, which activates integrins. Vimentin recruits VAV2 to focal adhesions to promote FAK activation. Interactions of vimentin filaments with focal adhesions can activate the MAPK pathway. b PAK1 and Plk1 are able to induce vimentin phosphorylation at Ser-56 in smooth muscle whereas protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) dephosphorylates vimentin. Vimentin phosphorylation induces vimentin disassembly and spatial reorientation, which regulates cell contraction and focal adhesion dynamics. Vimentin disassembly also releases CAS to affect actin dynamics. VFs, vimentin filaments; p-VFs, phospho-vimentin filaments; Sol-VFs, soluble vimentin filaments; CAS, Crk-associated substrate

Back to article page