Vimentin

Vimentin is a type III intermediate filament (IF) protein found in various non-epithelial cells, especially mesenchymal cells. A vimentin monomer, has a central ?-helical domain and carboxyl (tail) domains. Two monomers compose the basic subunit of vimentin assembly. Vimentin is crucial for supporting and anchoring the position of the organelles in the cytosol. Vimentin provided cells with a resilience absent from the microtubule or actin filament networks, when under mechanical stress in vivo. Therefore, in general, it is accepted that vimentin is the cytoskeletal component responsible for maintaining cell integrity. Vimentin is also responsible for stabilizing cytoskeletal interactions. It is found that vimentin control the transport of low-density lipoprotein. It has been used as a sarcoma tumor marker to identify mesenchyme.