Involvement of the Gap Junction Protein, Connexin43, in the Formation and Function of Invadopodia in the Human U251 Glioblastoma Cell Line.

ABSTRACT: The resistance of glioblastomas to treatments is mainly the consequence of their invasive capacities. Therefore, in order to better treat these tumors, it is important to understand the molecular mechanisms which are responsible for this behavior. Previous work suggested that gap junction proteins, the connexins, facilitate the aggressive nature of glioma cells. Here, we show that one of them-connexin43 (Cx43)-is implicated in the formation and function of invadopodia responsible for invasion capacity of U251 human glioblastoma cells. Immunofluorescent approaches-combined with confocal analyses-revealed that Cx43 was detected in all the formation stages of invadopodia exhibiting proteolytic activity. Clearly, Cx43 appeared to be localized in invadopodia at low cell density and less associa

SUBMITTER: Chepied A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7017254 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature