As an important economic insect, Bombyx mori is also a useful model organism for lepidopteran insect. Integrins are evolutionarily conserved from sponges to humans, and play vital roles in many physiological and pathological processes. To explore their diverse functions of integrins in insect, eleven integrins including six α and five β subunits were cloned and characterized from silkworm. Our ...

CD133 prostate cancer stem cells (PCSCs) have recently been identified in human prostate cancer tissues. The present study reports the integrin profile of prostate cancer progenitor cells and the role of α1 and β1 integrins in the homing and differentiation of PCSCs in vitro. PCSCs were isolated from the tissue specimens of patients with prostate cancer and the expression of surface integrins a...

Within the integrin family of cell adhesion receptors, integrins alpha3beta1, alpha6beta1, alpha6beta4 and alpha7beta1 make up a laminin-binding subfamily. The literature is divided on the role of these laminin-binding integrins in metastasis, with different studies indicating either pro- or antimetastatic functions. The opposing roles of the laminin-binding integrins in different settings migh...

Adhesion molecules have traditionally been thought of simply as receptors that permit anchorage to other cells or to the underlying extracellular matrix (ECM). However, within the past decade it has become apparent that adhesion molecules such as integrins mediate critical cytosolic signaling events that have a dramatic impact upon cell proliferation, survival, and motility. Integrins act to re...

Integrins are cell surface receptors that form the link between extracellular matrix molecules of the cell environment and internal cell signalling and the cytoskeleton. They are involved in several processes, e.g. adhesion and migration during development and repair. This review focuses on the role of integrins in axonal regeneration. Integrins participate in spontaneous axonal regeneration in...

Integrins are a large family of heterodimeric transmembrane cell adhesion receptors. During the last decade, it has become clear that integrins significantly participate in various host-pathogen interactions involving pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Many bacteria possess adhesins that can bind either directly or indirectly to integrins. However, there appears to be an emerging role for...

Integrins are cell surface receptors that bind cells to their physical external environment, linking the extracellular matrix to cell function. They are essential in the biology of all animals. In the late 1980s, we discovered that integrins are required for the ability of breast epithelia to do what they are programmed to do, which is to differentiate and make milk. Since then, integrins have ...

Integrins are crucial regulators of essential cellular processes such as gene expression, cell proliferation and migration. Alteration of these processes is central to tumourigenesis. Integrin signals mediate anchorage dependence of cell growth, while growth of cancer cells is anchorage-independent. Integrins critically regulate Rho family GTPases, that are also involved in cell-cycle progressi...

Integrins are cell surface receptors that form the link between extracellular matrix molecules of the cell environment and internal cell signalling and the cytoskeleton. They are involved in several processes, e.g. adhesion and migration during development and repair. This review focuses on the role of integrins in axonal regeneration. Integrins participate in spontaneous axonal regeneration in...

Eosinophilic inflammation is a characteristic feature of asthma. Integrins are highly versatile cellular receptors that regulate extravasation of eosinophils from the postcapillary segment of the bronchial circulation to the airway wall and airspace. Such movement into the asthmatic lung is described as a sequential, multistep paradigm, whereby integrins on circulating eosinophils become activa...