Zahra Erami

Albert Einstein College of Medicine | AECOM

The PI3Kbeta isoform of PI 3-kinase, which is activated downstream from both RTKs and GPCRs, is an important regulator of invadopodia formation. We have previously reported that in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, replacement of endogenous PI3Kbeta with kinase dead (KD) or GPCR-uncoupled (KK-DD) mutants leads to defects in invadopodia-mediated gelat...

Macropinocytosis is an actin-dependent but clathrin-independent endocytic process by which cells nonselectively take up large aliquots of extracellular material. Macropinocytosis is used for immune surveillance by dendritic cells, as a route of infection by viruses and protozoa, and as a nutrient uptake pathway in tumor cells. In this study, we exp...

The invasion of tumor cells from the primary tumor is mediated by invadopodia, actin rich protrusive organelles that secrete matrix metalloproteases and degrade the extracellular matrix. This coupling between protrusive activity and matrix degradation facilitates tumor invasion. We previously reported that the PI3Kβ isoform of PI 3-kinase, which is...

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase β (PI3Kβ) is regulated by receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and small GTPases such as Rac1 and Rab5. Our lab previously identified two residues (Gln-596 and Ile-597) in the helical domain of the catalytic subunit (p110β) of PI3Kβ whose mutation disrupts binding to Rab5. To better define...

The invasion of tumors cells during metastasis is mediated by invadopodia, actin rich protrusive organelles that secrete matrix metalloproteases and mediate matrix degradation. The PI3K-beta isoform of PI 3-kinase, which is regulated by both receptor tyrosine kinases and GPCRs, is an important regulator of invadopodia formation. We have previously...

Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI 3-kinases) are regulated by a diverse range of upstream activators, including receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and small GTPases from the Ras, Rho and Rab families. For the Class IA PI 3-kinase PI3Kβ, two mechanisms for GPCR-mediated regulation have been described: direct binding...

E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell junctions play a physical role in maintaining normal epithelial architecture. The disruption or deregulation of these adhesions in cancer can lead to the collapse of tumor epithelia that precedes invasion and subsequent metastasis. Here, we have generated an E-cadherin-GFP(FRAP) biosensor mouse, which enables intravita...

Endothelial cells (ECs) form the inner layer of blood vessels to physically separate the blood from the surrounding tissue. To support tissues with nutrients and oxygen, the endothelial monolayer is semipermeable. When EC permeability is altered, blood vessels are not functional and this is associated with diseases. A comprehensive knowledge of the...

E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell junctions play a prominent role in maintaining the epithelial architecture. The disruption or deregulation of these adhesions in cancer can lead to the collapse of tumor epithelia that precedes invasion and subsequent metastasis. Here we generated an E-cadherin-GFP mouse that enables intravital photobleaching and quant...

Movie S1. Tissue-Specific and Induced Expression of E-cadherin-GFP, Related to Figure 1

Movie S7. FRAP in Genetically Engineered Mouse Models of PDAC Formation and following Drug Treatment, Related to Figures 5 and 6

s: AACR Special Conference: Tumor Angiogenesis and Vascular Normalization: Bench to Bedside to Biomarkers; March 5-8, 2015; Orlando, FL Endothelial cells (ECs) play a key role in maintaining vascular functionality. Alterations in vessel stability and permeability are hallmarks of tumor angiogenesis and may affect the efficacy of anti-cancer therap...

E-cadherin is a trans-membrane tumor suppressor responsible for epithelial cell adhesion. E-cadherin forms adhesive clusters through combined extra-cellular cis- and trans-interactions and intracellular interaction with the actin cytoskeleton. Here we identify four populations of E-cadherin within cell junctions based on the molecular interactions...

Endothelial cells (ECs) play a key role to maintain the functionality of blood vessels. Altered EC permeability causes severe impairment in vessel stability and is a hallmark of pathologies such as cancer and thrombosis. Integrating label-free quantitative proteomics data into genome-wide metabolic modeling, we built up a model which predicts the m...

Cell migration is fundamental to many aspects of biology, including development, wound healing, the cellular responses of the immune system, and metastasis of tumor cells. Migration has been studied on glass coverslips in order to make cellular dynamics amenable to investigation by light microscopy. However, it has become clear that many aspects of...