%0 Journal Article
%T An emerging role of the cellular prion protein as a modulator of a morphogenetic program underlying epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition
%A Mohadeseh Mehrabian
%A Sepehr Ehsani
%A Gerold Schmitt-Ulms
%J Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
%D 2014
%I Frontiers Media
%R 10.3389/fcell.2014.00053
%X Knowledge of phenotypic changes the cellular prion protein (PrPC) contributes to may provide novel avenues for understanding its function. Here we consider data from functional knockout/down studies and protein-protein interaction analyses from the perspective of PrP¡¯s relationship to its ancestral ZIP metal ion transporting proteins. When approached in this manner, a role of PrPC as a modulator of a complex morphogenetic program that underlies epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) emerges. To execute EMT, cells have to master the challenge to shift from cell-cell to cell-substrate modes of adherence. During this process, cell- cell junctions stabilized by E-cadherins are replaced by focal adhesions that mediate cell-substrate contacts. A similar reprogramming occurs during distinct organogenesis events that have been shown to rely on ZIP transporters. A model is presented that sees ZIP transporters, and possibly also PrPC, affect this balance of adherence modes at both the transcriptional and post-translational levels.
%K epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition
%K prion protein
%K ZIP transporter
%K phenotype
%K function
%U http://www.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fcell.2014.00053/abstract