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Review
. 2015 Feb:32:121-30.
doi: 10.1016/j.ceb.2015.02.004. Epub 2015 Mar 2.

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and the astrocyte intermediate filament system in diseases of the central nervous system

Elly M Hol  1 , Milos Pekny  2
Affiliations
Review

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and the astrocyte intermediate filament system in diseases of the central nervous system

Elly M Hol et al. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2015 Feb.

Abstract

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is the hallmark intermediate filament (IF; also known as nanofilament) protein in astrocytes, a main type of glial cells in the central nervous system (CNS). Astrocytes have a range of control and homeostatic functions in health and disease. Astrocytes assume a reactive phenotype in acute CNS trauma, ischemia, and in neurodegenerative diseases. This coincides with an upregulation and rearrangement of the IFs, which form a highly complex system composed of GFAP (10 isoforms), vimentin, synemin, and nestin. We begin to unravel the function of the IF system of astrocytes and in this review we discuss its role as an important crisis-command center coordinating cell responses in situations connected to cellular stress, which is a central component of many neurological diseases.

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