Regulation of Cadherin Adhesive Activity

Address correspondence to Barry M. Gumbiner, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Box 564, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021. E-mail: [email protected] Adhesive interactions between cells are dynamic and regulated during tissue development and homeostasis. Cadherins are major cell–cell adhesion molecules involved in the development and maintenance of all solid tissues (Takeichi, 1991; Gumbiner, 1996). Therefore, regulation of cadherin-mediated adhesion and the associated adherens junctions is thought to underlie the dynamics of the adhesive interactions between cells. A major form of regulation occurs at the level of cadherin gene expression. The level of cadherin expression influences the strength of adhesion (Steinberg and Takeichi, 1994), and the type of cadherin expressed determines the specificity of cell interactions (Nose et al., 1988) and properties of the interactions. However, there is accumulating evidence that posttranscriptional regulation of cadherin adhesive activity is responsible for many of the dynamic, rapid changes in cell interactions that underlie tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis. The mechanisms underlying the regulation of cadherin adhesive activity is the topic of this Mini-Review.