Integrating Integrins

Integrins and bone metastasis: integrating tumor cell and stromal cell interactions.

Integrins on both tumor cells and the supporting host stromal cells in bone (osteoclasts, new blood vessels, inflammatory cells, platelets and bone marrow stromal cells) play key roles in enhancing bone metastasis. Tumor cells localize to specific tissues through integrin-mediated contacts with extracellular matrix and stromal cells. Integrin expression and signaling are perturbed in cancer cel...

Neuroblastoma Integrins

Integrins make a choice

Integrins make a choice ignaling researchers have only a few factors with which to explain a whole lot of biology. On page 407, Goel et al. describe how two integrin variants channel the actions of a single factor, insulin-like growth factor (IGF), into two distinct pathways that induce either adhesion or proliferation. The ␤ 1A integrin variant was known to be associated with proliferation and...

Integrins in immunity.

A successful immune response depends on the capacity of immune cells to travel from one location in the body to another--these cells are rapid migrators, travelling at speeds of microm/minute. Their ability to penetrate into tissues and to make contacts with other cells depends chiefly on the beta2 integrin known as LFA-1. For this reason, we describe the control of its activity in some detail....

Integrins, macrophages, and sarcoidosis.

T he article by Striz et al in this issue of Chest (see page 882) examines @32 integrin and ICAM-1 ex pression on human alveolar macrophages in patients with sarcoidosis and in control subjects. To put this interesting article in context, a brief overview of the background leading to this work is necessary. The cell population recovered by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) from normal lungs is predo...