title: The complexity in regulating the expression of tenascins.
abstract: The tenascins are a growing family of extracellular matrix proteins of typical multidomain structure. The prototype to be discovered was tenascin-C. It shows a highly regulated expression pattern during embryonic development and is often transiently associated with morphogenetic tissue interactions during organogenesis. In the adult organism reexpression of tenascin-C occurs in tumors and many other pathological conditions. Tenascin-C expression can be regulated by many different growth factors and hormones. Furthermore, mechanical strain exerted by fibroblasts seems to induce the expression of tenascin-C. This could represent a mechanism of translating mechanical forces into protein patterns, a step of potential relevance in the organization of embryogenesis. Tenascin-C as well as tenascin-R are believed to counteract the cell adhesion and spreading activity of fibronectin, thereby facilitating cell movement.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002465:Cell Movement; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009024:Morphogenesis; D019063:Tenascin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019063:Tenascin