Integrins as biomechanical sensors of the microenvironment.
Jenny Z KechagiaJohanna IvaskaPere Roca-CusachsPublished in: Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology (2020)
Integrins, and integrin-mediated adhesions, have long been recognized to provide the main molecular link attaching cells to the extracellular matrix (ECM) and to serve as bidirectional hubs transmitting signals between cells and their environment. Recent evidence has shown that their combined biochemical and mechanical properties also allow integrins to sense, respond to and interact with ECM of differing properties with exquisite specificity. Here, we review this work first by providing an overview of how integrin function is regulated from both a biochemical and a mechanical perspective, affecting integrin cell-surface availability, binding properties, activation or clustering. Then, we address how this biomechanical regulation allows integrins to respond to different ECM physicochemical properties and signals, such as rigidity, composition and spatial distribution. Finally, we discuss the importance of this sensing for major cell functions by taking cell migration and cancer as examples.
Keyphrases
- extracellular matrix
- cell migration
- induced apoptosis
- cell cycle arrest
- cell surface
- single cell
- stem cells
- oxidative stress
- papillary thyroid
- cell therapy
- cell death
- signaling pathway
- squamous cell carcinoma
- rna seq
- pi k akt
- cell proliferation
- cell adhesion
- single molecule
- lymph node metastasis
- dna binding
- childhood cancer