S. Kuroda et al., REGULATION OF CELL-CELL ADHESION OF MDCK CELLS BY CDC42 AND RAC1 SMALL GTPASES, Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 240(2), 1997, pp. 430-435
Rad, a member of the Rho small GTPases family, has recently been shown
to be involved in the regulation of cell-cell adhesion mediated by ca
dherin. Here we showed that Cdc42, another member of Rho family, accum
ulated at cell-cell contact sites. Microinjection of Rho GDI, a negati
ve regulator of the Rho family members, into Madin-Darby canine kidney
(MDCK) cells resulted in perturbation of epithelial cell. morphology
and of cell-cell and cell-substratum adhesions, and comicroinjection o
f dominant active Cdc42 or Rad reversed the action of Rho GDI, suggest
ing that the active form of Cdc42 or Rad is required for maintaining t
he cell-cell and cell-substratum adhesions. These observations suggest
that Cdc42, in addition to Rad, can regulate the cell-cell adhesion.
(C) 1997 Academic Press.