Open Access

ARTICLE

Filamin: A Structural and Functional Biomolecule with Important Roles in Cell Biology, Signaling and Mechanics

by Hassan P. Modarres∗, Mohammad R. K. Mofrad†^†

∗ Molecular Cell Biomechanics Laboratory, Departments of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
† Corresponding Author. Department of Bioengineering, University of California Berkeley, 208A Stanley Hall #1762, Berkeley, CA 94720-1762. Phone: (510) 643-8165; Fax: (510) 642-5835; Email: mofrad@berkeley.edu

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics 2014, 11(1), 39-65. https://doi.org/10.3970/mcb.2014.011.039

Abstract

Focal adhesions are the immediate sites of the cell’s adhesive interaction with the extracellular matrix and as such play a key role in mechanosensing and mechanotransduction at the edge of the cell interface with its surrounding microenvironment. A multitude of proteins orchestrate this mechanochemical communication process between the cell and its outside world. Filamin is a member of focal adhesion protein machinery that also plays a key role in regulating and bundling the acting filament network. A brief review is presented here on filamin and its important protein partners with the aim to shed light on the role of filamin’s protein-protein interaction network in cell mechanobiology.

---