Vimentin bridges scales to convert polarized cell locomotion into coordinated collective migration.

Authors

Sudheer Kumar Peneti, Satish Babu Morparthi, Clémence Thiant, Joseph d' Alessandro, Lucas Anger, Ranjith Chilupuri, Tien Dang, Manon Arnaud, Julia Eckert, Stéphane Vassilopoulos, Benoit Ladoux, René-Marc Mège

Published in

Molecular biology of the cell. Pages mbcE26010052. Aug 05, 2026. Epub Aug 05, 2026.

Abstract

Collective cell migration is central in development and disease. Vimentin is an intermediate filament protein expressed by epithelial cells at the edge of wounds where collective cell migration is most efficient. Yet, its functional role in this context remains underexplored. Here, we show that vimentin, over-expressed in cells undergoing partial epithelial to mesenchymal transition at the edge of epithelial monolayers, has a multiscale impact on the whole monolayer mechano-dynamics. Vimentin knock-down delays wound closure, reduces cell coordination, while increasing traction forces exerted by cells on the substratum. It also disrupts the directionality of leader cells migration, as well as the cohesion and coordinated motion of cells deep in the monolayer. We further show that vimentin promotes the conversion of polarized cell locomotion into coordinate collective migration by polarizing actin, focal adhesions and traction forces, sustaining leader cell's lamellipodium protrusive activity and directionality, while allowing mechanical coupling of leader with follower cells. Altogether, we show that vimentin is essential for bridging polarized single cell locomotion and coordinated collective migration to allow efficient collective migration. [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text].

PMID:
42555827
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Aug 2026.

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