Integrins as mediators of epithelial cell-matrix interactions in the human small intestinal mucosa

✍ Scribed by Carine Lussier; Nuria Basora; Yamina Bouatrouss; Jean-François Beaulieu

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 854 KB
• Volume: 51
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1059-910X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0029(20001015)51:2<169::aid-jemt8>3.0.co;2-a

✦ Synopsis

The intestinal epithelium is a highly dynamic tissue, which depends on a variety of factors for the regulation of its rapid renewal and expression of digestive functions. Over the last 10 years, it has become evident that among these factors are cell interactions with the extracellular matrix, more specifically with the underlying basement membrane, through a series of specific cell membrane receptors, many of which are integrins. Integrins regulate the assembly of adhesive junctions as well as the activation of various signaling pathways, leading to the modulation of gene expression. The analysis of the integrin repertoire along the crypt-villus axis in the human small intestinal epithelium identifies a number of ␤1 and ␤4 integrins, showing differential patterns of expression relative to its two functional compartments. Among them are the integrins ␣3␤1, ␣7B␤1 and the functional form of ␣6␤4 that appear to be related, in concert with the distribution of their ligands, to the process of intestinal cell differentiation, and the integrins ␣2␤1, ␣1␤1, ␣5␤1, and the non-functional form of ␣6␤4 that seem to be coupled with the undifferentiated/proliferative status of crypt cells. These observations delineate the potential complexity of the organization of epithelial cell-matrix interactions involved in the maintenance of the human intestinal crypt-villus axis.