| Preface | p. ix |
| Desmin and Other Intermediate Filaments in Normal and Diseased Muscle | p. 1 |
| Desmin in Mature Skeletal and Heart Muscle Cells | p. 1 |
| Desmin and Other IF Proteins in Different Muscles | p. 2 |
| Functions of Desmin in Striated Muscles | p. 4 |
| Function of Desmin in Smooth Muscles | p. 5 |
| Gene Regulation | p. 5 |
| Desmin-Related Myopathies (DRM) | p. 6 |
| Intermediate Filaments in Astrocytes in Health and Disease | p. 10 |
| IFs in Astroglial Cells during Development | p. 10 |
| GFAP and Its Regulation | p. 11 |
| Vimentin and Nestin and Their Regulation | p. 13 |
| Formation of IFs in Astroglial Cells | p. 13 |
| Astrocyte IFs, CNS Trauma and Regeneration | p. 16 |
| Astrocyte IFs and Resistance to Mechanical Stress | p. 22 |
| Astrocyte IFs, Osmotic Stress and Ischemia/Hypoxia | p. 25 |
| Astrocyte IFs, Cell Proliferation and Tumorigenesis | p. 25 |
| GFAP Mutations and Alexander Disease | p. 26 |
| Neuronal Intermediate Filaments and Neurodegenerative Diseases | p. 35 |
| Neuronal Intermediate Filament Proteins | p. 36 |
| Neuronal IFs in Neurodegenerative Diseases | p. 38 |
| Neurofilaments: Phosphorylation and Signal Transduction | p. 52 |
| Neurofilaments Are Members of the Intermediate Filament Family | p. 53 |
| Neurofilaments and Axonal Caliber | p. 55 |
| Phosphorylation of Neurofilaments | p. 55 |
| Neurofilaments and Their Associated Kinases | p. 56 |
| Neurofilament Tail Domain Phosphorylation | p. 57 |
| Axonal Transport of Neurofilaments | p. 58 |
| Phosphorylation of NFs and Disease | p. 59 |
| Neurofilaments and Signal Transduction Pathways | p. 60 |
| Keratin Intermediate Filaments and Diseases of the Skin | p. 74 |
| Epidermal Blistering Caused by Keratin Mutations | p. 74 |
| Candidate Genes in Other Epithelia | p. 75 |
| From Candidate Genes to "Candidate Diseases" | p. 77 |
| Supramolecular Stability versus Molecular Flux | p. 77 |
| Keratin Filaments as Tensile Structures | p. 78 |
| Significance of Keratin Role in Skin Fragility Disorders | p. 79 |
| The Keratin K6 Minifamily of Genes | p. 83 |
| Conservation of Sequence in the K6 Polypeptides | p. 84 |
| Expression of the K6 Genes | p. 87 |
| Expression and Partners | p. 89 |
| Functional Considerations | p. 89 |
| Transcriptional Regulation of Keratin Gene Expression | p. 93 |
| Transcriptional Regulation of Keratin K5 Expression | p. 93 |
| Regulation of K14 | p. 95 |
| Regulation of K15 | p. 96 |
| Regulation of K1 and K10 | p. 96 |
| Regulation of K4 and K13 | p. 97 |
| Regulation of K3 and K12 | p. 98 |
| Regulation of Hair Keratins | p. 99 |
| Regulation of Keratin Gene Expression by Hormones and Vitamins | p. 99 |
| Regulation of Keratin Gene Expression by Growth Factors and Cytokines | p. 101 |
| Regulation of Small Keratins, K7, K8, K18 and K19 | p. 101 |
| Specific Transcription Factors Implicated in Regulation of Transcription of Keratin Genes | p. 103 |
| Conclusions and Future Directions | p. 105 |
| Simple Epithelial Keratins: Expression, Function and Disease | p. 110 |
| Suggested Functions of Simple Epithelial Keratins | p. 111 |
| Simple Epithelial Keratin Proteins and Disease | p. 114 |
| Altered Simple Epithelial Keratin Expression and Cancer | p. 115 |
| Keratins as Targets in and Modulators of Liver Diseases | p. 120 |
| The Keratin Cytoskeleton of Hepatocytes and Bile Duct Epithelial Cells | p. 120 |
| Alterations of the Keratin Cytoskeleton in Human Liver Diseases | p. 121 |
| Animal Models to Study Hepatocytic Keratin Alterations | p. 122 |
| Mallory Bodies as a Product of the Cellular Response to Misfolded Keratin | p. 124 |
| How Can Keratins Influence Toxic Cell Injury? | p. 125 |
| Mutations of Keratin Genes and Liver Diseases | p. 127 |
| The Search for Specific Keratin Functions: The Case of Keratin K10 | p. 131 |
| Keratin K10 Assembly and Dynamics | p. 132 |
| Keratin K10 Inhibits Cell Proliferation | p. 134 |
| Transgenic Mice Models to Study K10 Functions | p. 138 |
| The Paradigms of K10 Knock Out Model | p. 139 |
| Reconciling Hypotheses | p. 141 |
| Index | p. 147 |
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