Cell migration and adhesion are critical for immune system function and involve many proteins, which must be continuously transported and recycled in the cell. Recycling of adhesion molecules requires the participation of several proteins, including actin, tubulin, and GTPases, and of membrane components such as sphingolipids and cholesterol. However, roles of actin motor proteins in adhesion m...

Adhesions are sites of contact between cells (cell-cell) and between cells and the extracellular matrix (cell-ECM) that are essential for numerous biological processes such as embryogenesis, wound healing, and the immune response. They are composed of many different molecules including adhesion receptors, signaling proteins (e.g., kinases, phos-phatases, and adaptor proteins), and structural pr...

Efficient cell migration is central to the normal development of tissues and organs and is involved in a wide range of human diseases, including cancer metastasis, immune responses, and cardiovascular disorders. Mesenchymal migration is modulated by focal-adhesion proteins, which organize into large integrin-rich protein complexes at the basal surface of adherent cells. Whether the extent of cl...

A cDNA encoding a new human lymphocyte cell surface molecule has been isolated and shown to identify a fourth member of a recently discovered family of adhesion proteins. This lymphocyte-associated molecule (LAM-1) is uniquely composed of multiple distinct domains, one domain homologous with animal lectins, one homologous with epidermal growth factor, and two short consensus repeat units simila...

Cadherins impart strong cell-to-cell adhesion that nucleates the assembly of adherens junctions. Initial adhesion events organize a multi-protein, cytoskeletal complex at adhesion sites (Adams et al., 1996, 1998; McNeill et al., 1993). This adhesion complex grows rapidly, organizes the lateral plasma membrane, and helps generate polarized distributions of plasma membrane proteins (Yeaman et al....

Recent studies highlight the striking similarity between vertebrate focal adhesion plaques and Caenorhabditis elegans muscle adhesion structures and position LIM domain proteins as central players at focal adhesions.

Hox genes encode homeodomain-containing transcription factors that determine cell and tissue identities in the embryo during development. Hox genes are also expressed in various adult tissues and cancer cells. In Drosophila, expression of cell adhesion molecules, cadherins and integrins, is regulated by Hox proteins operating in hierarchical molecular pathways and plays a crucial role in segmen...

Phenotypic differences between planktonic bacteria and those attached to abiotic surfaces exist, but the mechanisms involved in the adhesion response of bacteria are not well understood. By the use of two-dimensional (2D) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we have demonstrated that attachment of Escherichia coli to abiotic surfaces leads to alteration in the composition of outer membrane prote...

Adhesion of T lymphocytes is an essential step for antigen recognition and lymphocyte activation. mAbs to T cell surface proteins have been used to define the receptor-ligand proteins that appear to be involved in adhesion. Since most assays measure the effects of mAbs on T lymphocyte function, it is not known whether mAb-mediated blocking is due to a disruption of receptor-ligand interactions ...