these systems, the down regulation was contributed to a decrease in the mRNA levels. These early results suggested that tropomyosins played a critical role in facilitating certain processes that occurred during cell transformation, such as actin filament re-organisation and changes in cell shape. These studies have been reproduced in other laboratories and in other cell lines, with similar results (reviewed in Gunning et al., 2008). Furthermore, studies have highlighted a link between tropomyosin isoform expression and the acquisition of metastatic properties. A study compared isoform expression between a low- and highly-metastatic Lewis lung carcinoma cell line. The study found that as cells become more metastatic, there is a marked decrease in the expression of HMW tropomyosin 2 protein and mRNA levels. These results have been confirmed in primary tumors and human models. Studies in colon and bladder cancer found increased expression of the LMW tropomyosin Tropomyosin 5NM1. The elevated expression of this isoform has also been seen in transformed rat fibroblasts, and it is thought that this isoform is required for the motility of highly metastatic melanoma. In addition, elevated expression of Tropomyosin 4 has been linked with lymph node metastasis in breast cancer. All of these studies suggest that changes in the expression and complement of tropomyosin isoforms are integral to cancer and cancer progression. The consensus is that, in general, cancer cells become more reliant on LMW tropomyosins as HMW tropomyosins disappear with increasing malignancy. This discovery has led to the development of novel anti-tropomyosin compounds as potential anti-cancer agents. Autoimmunity Tropomyosins have been implicated in the autoimmune disease ulcerative colitis, a disease of the colon that is characterised by ulcers or open sores. The link between this disease and tropomyosin was first acknowledged in a study that found blood serum taken from 95% of patients with ulcerative colitis contained antibodies that reacted positively to tropomyosin. Additional studies have confirmed these results, but also identify Tropomyosin 5 and Tropomyosin 1 as the primary tropomyosins involved in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis. Tropomyosin 5 has been related to the development of pouchitis in the ileal pouch following surgery for ulcerative colitis. The elevated number of IgG-producing cells in the colonic mucosa of ulcerative colitis patients is largely committed to producing IgG against Tropomyosin 5-related epitopes. Tropomyosin 5 is, therefore, capable of inducing a significant T-cell response. A physicochemical analysis of common structural motifs present in 109 human autoantigens revealed