Home > Browse Issues > Vol.37 No.3
Function of Carboxyl Terminal of Connexin 43 in Malignant Tumor
Wang Jun1,2, Bian Xiuwu1,2, Yu Shicang1,2*
1Institute of Pathology/Southwest Cancer Center, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China; 2Key Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Pathology of Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400038, China
Abstract: Connexin 43 (CX43)， a member of connexin family， performs crucial roles in regulating diverse physiological and pathological processes in eukaryotic cells. This protein is composed of three parts， including the amino terminal， transmembrane structure and carboxyl terminal. In the carboxyl terminal of CX43， there are many protein binding sites. Through these sites， CX43 can interact with different proteins. On the one hand， those sites influence the phosphorylation state of CX43 and then regulate its degradation， subcellular localization， assembly process， etc. On the other hand， the carboxyl terminal of CX43 also influences the functional state of other protein molecules， thus affecting the signal transduction and regulating the biological function of cell. Recent studies revealed that the carboxyl terminal of CX43 played a critical role in regulating the biological features of cancer cells or cancer stem cells. Here， we make a brief review about the structural features， the protein-protein interaction sites and the molecular mechanisms for regulating tumor cell proliferation/migration of this domain in CX43.
CN
EN