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Regulation of flotillin‐1 in the establishment of NIH‐3T3 cell–cell interactions 1
Author(s) -
López-Casas Pedro P.,
del Mazo Jesús
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(03)01239-0
Subject(s) - microbiology and biotechnology , cell , downregulation and upregulation , transfection , lipid raft , biology , chemistry , cell culture , gene , signal transduction , biochemistry , genetics
Flotillin‐1 is a lipid raft‐associated protein involved in neuronal regeneration, insulin signaling in adipocytes, and phagosome maturation in macrophages. We detected abundant flotillin‐1 mRNA expression in confluent cultures of mouse NIH‐3T3 fibroblasts. These cells were used as a model to assess the regulation of flotillin‐1 mRNA and protein expression by cell–cell interactions. The disruption of cell–cell interactions triggered the downregulation of the flotillin‐1 gene. However, the establishment of new cell interactions, and finally confluence, increased both the flotillin‐1 transcript and its protein. Despite flotillin‐1 having been described as an integral protein of the cell membrane, it is also very conspicuous in the hydrophilic fraction (the non‐membrane fraction) of confluent cell extracts. The promoter region of the flotillin‐1 gene was isolated and analyzed by transfection experiments, and the regulatory domains containing motifs for binding transcription factors involved in cell differentiation were identified.