Actin-rich dendritic spines are the locus of excitatory synaptic transmission and plastic events such as long-term potentiation (LTP). Morphological plasticity of spines accompanies activity-dependent changes in synaptic strength. Several Rho GTPase family members are implicated in regulating neuronal and, in particular, spine structure via actin and the actin-binding protein cofilin. However, ...

Rho GTPases are crucial regulators of the actin cytoskeleton and they play a role in the control of membrane trafficking. In contrast to the close family members RhoA and RhoC, RhoB localises to endosomes and delays epidermal growth factor receptor traffic. Here, we show that activated RhoB induces the peripheral distribution of endosomes, which align along subcortical actin stress fibres and a...

RhoB, a member of small GTPases belonging to the Ras protein superfamily, might have a suppressive activity in cancer progression. Here, expression of RhoB gene was evaluated in human benign, borderline and malignant ovary tumors by immunostaining, with normal ovary tissue as control. Malignant tumors were assessed according to Federation Internationale de Gynecologie Obstetrique (FIGO) guideli...

Small guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-binding protein RhoB is an important stress sensor and contributes to the regulation of cytoskeletal organization, cell proliferation and survival. However, whether RhoB is involved in the hypoxic response and action of glucocorticoid (GC) is largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of hypoxia or/and GC on the expression and activition of Rh...

Determining the cellular level of activated form of RhoGTPases is of key importance to understand their regulatory functions in cell physiopathology. We previously reported scFvC1, that selectively bind to the GTP-bound form of RhoA, RhoB and RhoC. In this present study we generate, by molecular evolution, a new phage library to isolate scFvs displaying high affinity and selectivity to RhoA and...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to confirm the association of RHOB and FAM167A-BLK gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to systemic sclerosis (SSc) in a Chinese Han population. METHODS A total of 248 SSc patients and 251 healthy controls of Chinese Han ethnicity, which visited the department of dermatology of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, were included in the study. Six selecte...

The CXCR2 chemokine receptor is a G-protein-coupled receptor that undergoes clathrin-mediated endocytosis upon ligand binding. The trafficking of CXCR2 is crucial for cells to maintain a proper chemotactic response. The mechanisms that regulate the recycling/degradation sorting decision are unknown. In this study, we used dominant-negative (T19N) and GTPase-deficient activated (Q63L) RhoB mutan...

The Rho family of GTPases is implicated in the control of endocytic and biosynthetic traffic of many cell types; however, the cellular distribution of RhoB remains controversial and its function is not well understood. Using confocal microscopy, we found that endogenous RhoB and green fluorescent protein-tagged wild-type RhoB were localized to early endosomes, and to a much lesser extent to rec...

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is a highly aggressive form of the disease for which new therapeutic options are desperately needed. Previously, we showed that the high-affinity peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonist, RS5444, inhibits cell proliferation of ATC cells via induction of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1) (p21). We show here that up...

Dendritic cells (DC) play a central role in immune responses by presenting antigenic peptides to CD4+ T cells through MHCII molecules. Here, we demonstrate a TRIF-GEFH1-RhoB pathway is involved in MHCII surface expression on DC. We show the TRIF (TIR domain-containing adapter inducing IFNbeta)- but not the myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)-dependent pathway of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-s...