Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 17, 2025

Intracellular Phosphoflow Cytometry of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patient-Derived Xenotransplants
07:38

Intracellular Phosphoflow Cytometry of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patient-Derived Xenotransplants

Published on: June 6, 2025

349

RHAMM Is a Multifunctional Protein That Regulates Cancer Progression

Britney J Messam1, Cornelia Tolg2, James B McCarthy3

  • 1Department of Biochemistry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON N6A 5C1, Canada.

International Journal of Molecular Sciences
|October 13, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Higher organisms achieve complexity through multifunctional proteins like Receptor for hyaluronan-mediated motility (RHAMM). RHAMM acts as a sensor for tissue injury, detecting hyaluronan (HA) to regulate cellular responses and cancer progression.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Organismal complexity arises from gene regulation and tissue organization, not just genome size.
  • Multifunctional proteins enhance cellular responsiveness to stimuli.
  • Receptor for hyaluronan-mediated motility (RHAMM) is a key multifunctional protein involved in cellular responses to injury.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To trace the evolutionary path of RHAMM as a sensor-transducer of tissue injury signals.
  • To elucidate how RHAMM's domain and isoform structures contribute to its functional complexity.
  • To model strategies for targeting RHAMM functions to control cancer progression.

Main Methods:

  • Evolutionary analysis of RHAMM.
  • Domain and isoform structure analysis of RHAMM.
  • Modeling of RHAMM's function in response-to-injury contexts.

Main Results:

  • RHAMM has evolved to detect hyaluronan (HA) accumulating in injured microenvironments.
  • RHAMM's structural features enable its role as a sensor-transducer.
  • RHAMM's functions are critical in regulating cellular responses to tissue injury.

Conclusions:

  • RHAMM's multifunctionality is crucial for generating complex cellular responses to injury.
  • Understanding RHAMM's structure-function relationship is key to developing cancer therapies.
  • Targeting RHAMM offers a potential strategy for controlling cancer progression.
Keywords:
HARHAMMcancerdomainsevolutionisoformsmulti-functionssignaling

More Related Videos

Author Spotlight: Exploring Salidroside's Molecular Mechanisms in Breast Cancer Treatment11:13

Author Spotlight: Exploring Salidroside's Molecular Mechanisms in Breast Cancer Treatment

Published on: June 9, 2023

1.8K
Author Spotlight: Developing Tools to Tune the Activity of Tyrosine Phosphatases06:56

Author Spotlight: Developing Tools to Tune the Activity of Tyrosine Phosphatases

Published on: September 6, 2024

502

Related Concept Videos

mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression03:03

mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression

The mammalian target of rapamycin or mTOR protein was discovered in 1994 due to its direct interaction with rapamycin. The protein gets its name from a yeast homolog called TOR. The mTOR protein complex in mammalian cells plays a major role in balancing anabolic processes such as the synthesis of proteins, lipids, and nucleotides and catabolic processes, such as autophagy in response to environmental cues, such as availability of nutrients and growth factors.
The mTOR pathway or the...
3.9K
Small GTPases - Ras and Rho01:24

Small GTPases - Ras and Rho

Ras and Rho are small monomeric GTPases that act downstream of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) and regulate various cellular processes. These GTPases switch between active and inactive states by binding to guanine nucleotides.
Three regulatory proteins control their activity:
4.4K
The Ras Gene02:38

The Ras Gene

The Ras-gene-encoded proteins are regulators of signaling pathways controlling cell proliferation, differentiation, or cell survival. The Ras-gene family in humans constitutes three primary members—the HRas, NRas, and KRas. These genes code for four functionally distinct yet closely related proteins—the HRas, NRas, KRas4A, and KRas4B. The involvement of mutant Ras genes in human cancer was first discovered in 1982 and is among the most common causes of human tumorigenesis.
Ras is a...
6.5K
Abnormal Proliferation02:23

Abnormal Proliferation

Under normal conditions, most adult cells remain in a non-proliferative state unless stimulated by internal or external factors to replace lost cells. Abnormal cell proliferation is a condition in which the cell's growth exceeds and is uncoordinated with normal cells. In such situations, cell division persists in the same excessive manner even after cessation of the stimuli, leading to persistent tumors. The tumor arises from the damaged cells that replicate to pass the damage to the...
4.7K
PI3K/mTOR/AKT Signaling Pathway01:22

PI3K/mTOR/AKT Signaling Pathway

The mammalian target of rapamycin  (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that regulates growth, proliferation, and cell survival in response to hormones, growth factors, or nutrient availability. This kinase exists in two structurally and functionally distinct forms: mTOR complex 1  (mTORC1) and mTOR complex 2  (mTORC2). The first form (mTORC1) is composed of a rapamycin-sensitive Raptor and proline-rich Akt substrate, PRAS40. In contrast,  mTORC2 consists of a...
4.2K
Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) and Cancer01:03

Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) and Cancer

Rous Sarcoma virus or RSV was discovered by F. Peyton Rous in the year 1911 as a filterable transmissible agent that could cause tumors in chickens. He won a Nobel Prize for this discovery in 1966. His experiments clearly demonstrated that some cancers could be caused by infectious agents and led to the discovery of many more cancer-causing viruses in animals as well as humans.
RSV is a retrovirus that contains two copies of a plus-strand  RNA genome. Its genome consists of four main open...
5.6K