Invadosomes are coming: new insights into function and disease relevance

5 years ago

Invadosomes are coming: new insights into function and disease relevance

Elyse K. Paterson, Sara A. Courtneidge

Invadopodia and podosomes are discrete, actin-based molecular protrusions that form in cancer cells and normal cells, respectively, in response to diverse signaling pathways and extracellular matrix cues. Although they participate in a host of different cellular processes, they share a common functional theme of controlling pericellular proteolytic activity, which sets them apart from other structures that function in migration and adhesion, including focal adhesions, lamellipodia, and filopodia. In this review, we highlight research that explores the function of these complex structures, including roles for podosomes in embryonic and postnatal development, in angiogenesis and remodeling of the vasculature, in maturation of the postsynaptic membrane, in antigen sampling and recognition, and in cell–cell fusion mechanisms, as well as the involvement of invadopodia at multiple steps of the metastatic cascade, and how all of this may apply in the treatment of human disease states. Finally, we explore recent research that implicates a novel role for exosomes and microvesicles in invadopodia-dependent and invadopodia-independent mechanisms of invasion, respectively. Invadosomes are recently discovered, highly complex molecular structures that couple actin polymerization with proteolytic activity to orchestrate extracellular matrix remodeling and invasion processes. In this review, we highlight novel research that delineates the functions of invadosomes, as well as how these molecular structures may be therapeutically targeted in various human diseases.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1111/febs.14123