Extracellular Vesicles Bearing Vimentin Drive Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition.

ABSTRACT: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key biological process in physiological and pathological conditions, spanning development, wound healing, and cancer. Vimentin, a key cytoskeletal intermediate filament (IF) protein, is an established intracellular determinant of EMT. Recently, extracellular vimentin has also emerged with important functions, and we demonstrated that vimentin from fibroblast-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) promotes wound healing. Building on these findings, we explored whether extracellular vimentin regulates EMT. We employed fibroblast-derived EVs to assess their EMT-driving capacity. Using coculture models and EV treatments from WT and vimentin-KO fibroblasts, we observed that fibroblasts induce an EMT phenotype in epithelial cells, marked by elevated mes

SUBMITTER: Parvanian S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12719745 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature