Integrin-mediated adhesion regulates cell polarity and membrane protrusion through the Rho family of GTPases

Integrin-mediated adhesion is a critical regulator of cell migration. Here we demonstrate that integrin-mediated adhesion to high fibronectin concentrations induces a stop signal for cell migration by inhibiting cell polarization and protrusion. On fibronectin, the stop signal is generated through alpha 5 beta 1 integrin-mediated signaling to the Rho family of GTPases. Specifically, Cdc42 and Rac1 activation exhibits a biphasic dependence on fibronectin concentration that parallels optimum cell polarization and protrusion. In contrast, RhoA activity increases with increasing substratum concentration. We find that cross talk between Cdc42 and Rac1 is required for substratum-stimulated protrusion, whereas RhoA activity is inhibitory. We also show that Cdc42 activity is inhibited by Rac1 activation, suggesting that Rac1 activity may down-regulate Cdc42 activity and promote the formation of stabilized rather than transient protrusion. Furthermore, expression of RhoA down-regulates Cdc42 and Rac1 activity, providing a mechanism whereby RhoA may inhibit cell polarization and protrusion. These findings implicate adhesion-dependent signaling as a mechanism to stop cell migration by regulating cell polarity and protrusion via the Rho family of GTPases.