Focal Adhesion Kinase Modulates Cell Adhesion Strengthening via Integrin Activation

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is an essential nonreceptor tyrosine kinase regulating cell migration, adhesive signaling, and mechanosensing. Using FAK-null cells expressing FAK under an inducible promoter, we demonstrate that FAK regulates the time-dependent generation of adhesive forces. During the early stages of adhesion, FAK expression in FAK-null cells enhances integrin activation to promote integrin binding and, hence, the adhesion strengthening rate. Importantly, FAK expression regulated integrin activation, and talin was required for the FAK-dependent effects. A role for FAK in integrin activation was confirmed in human fibroblasts with knocked-down FAK expression. The FAK autophosphorylation Y397 site was required for the enhancements in adhesion strengthening and integrin-binding responses. This work demonstrates a novel role for FAK in integrin activation and the time-dependent generation of cell–ECM forces.     

焦点粘着激酶的研究进展

焦点粘着激酶是依赖于整合素的细胞信号转导通路的基础性信号传递分子.通过磷酸化酪氨酸位点和富脯氨酸序列,活化的焦点粘着激酶与细胞骨架蛋白、Src族激酶、磷酸肌醇-3激酶、Graf以及多种衔接子蛋白相互作用,调节细胞的粘附、迁移、增殖和分化.     

Adhesion in meningococcus

The adhesive activity of 113 meningococcal strains with different invasive properties and 10 Neisseria nonpathogenic strains have been studied. Adhesive properties have been revealed in 80-82% of these strains. Meningococcal strains isolated from the nasopharynx of carriers possess high hemagglutinating activity. The percentage of cells with pili in these strain was also higher than that in meningococcal strains isolated from the liquor of patients. This shows the presence of direct correlation between the number of pili in the cells (according to the data of electron microscopy) and their activity in the hemagglutination test, which makes it possible to use this test for the determination of the adhesive capacity of meningococci, associated with the presence of pili.     

白细胞与内皮细胞的粘附

白细胞与内皮细胞相互作用由粘附分子介导.整合素、免疫球蛋白及选择素家族的粘附分子在这两种细胞的粘附中起关键作用.粘附的起始阶段由选择素介导,随后由CD11/CD18复合物与ICAM-1形成更为紧密的结合.多种细胞因子及炎症反应可诱导粘附.抗粘附分子单抗、药物等可抑制粘附.     

Cell Adhesion Strength Is Controlled by Intermolecular Spacing of Adhesion Receptors

Spatial patterning of biochemical cues on the micro- and nanometer scale controls numerous cellular processes such as spreading, adhesion, migration, and proliferation. Using force microscopy we show that the lateral spacing of individual integrin receptor-ligand bonds determines the strength of cell adhesion. For spacings ≥90 nm, focal contact formation was inhibited and the detachment forces as well as the stiffness of the cell body were significantly decreased compared to spacings ≤50 nm. Analyzing cell detachment at the subcellular level revealed that rupture forces of focal contacts increase with loading rate as predicted by a theoretical model for adhesion clusters. Furthermore, we show that the weak link between the intra- and extracellular space is at the intracellular side of a focal contact. Our results show that cells can amplify small differences in adhesive cues to large differences in cell adhesion strength.     

贻贝的黏着机制

贻贝通过足丝（byssus）分泌的贻贝黏着蛋白质（mussel adhesive protein,MAP）能附着在海水中的任何有机物和无机物表面,目前认为贻贝黏着蛋白质中含高浓度特殊的氨基酸DOPA（3,4-二羟基苯丙氨酸）在贻贝黏附过程中扮演重要的角色。DOPA能直接与金属氧化物通过有机金属络合反应形成稳定的络合物,也能在氧化后与其同一多肽链上或不同多肽链上的其他残基形成稳定的交联结构,进而牢固黏附于物体表面。贻贝黏着蛋白质具有黏合范围广、速度快、耐腐蚀、强度高和生物亲和性良好等优点,被认为是极好的广谱生物胶黏剂而应用于医学和生物工程等领域。     

Adhesion of Corynebacterium diphtheriae

The conditions for the direct hemagglutination test performed to determine the degree of adhesion of C. diphtheriae were defined. For this test sheep red blood cells, trypsin-treated ex tempore, were used. Only newly isolated cultures, subcultured for not more than 2-5 times and stored for not more than 2-7 days or freeze-dried, were employed. The culture to be tested was grown in nutrient agar with 10% of normal horse serum. The test was made in microtitrator round-bottom wells. The mixture of different dilutions of the culture was incubated for 2 hours at 37 degrees C, then left overnight at 4 degrees C. All 147 newly isolated or freeze-dried C. diphtheriae strains under test had different degrees of adhesion. Their adhesive activity was unrelated to their biovar. Toxigenic strains were significantly more active in hemagglutination (53.5 +/- 3.0%) than nontoxigenic ones (23.5 +/- 3.9%). The strains isolated from the nose, irrespective of their biological properties, were more active than those isolated from the pharynx.     

Vinculin and Cell-Cell Adhesion

Vinculin, a 117-kDa protein, is a constituent of adhesion plaques and adherence junctions in non-muscle cells. We investigated the role of vinculin on the physical strength of cell-cell adhesion by conducting disaggregation assays on aggregates of parental wild-type F9 mouse embryonal carcinoma cells (clone BIM), two vinculin-depleted F9 cell lines, γ227 and γ229, and a reconstituted γ229 cell line (R3) that re-express vinculin. Immunoblotting demonstrated that the four cell lines used in the study had similar expressions of the cell-cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin and associated membrane proteins α- and β-catenin. Double immunofluorescence analysis showed that, in contrast to the vinculin-null cell lines, BIM and R3 cells expressed abundant vinculin at the cell margins in adhesion plaques and in cell-cell margins that also contained actin. Laminar flow assays showed that both the vinculin-positive and vinculinnegative cell aggregates that were formed in culture in the course of 24 to 48 hours largely remained intact despite the imposition of shear flow at high shear rates. Since laminar flow imposed on cell aggregates act to separate cells from each other, our data indicate that F9 cells that were adherent to a substrate formed strong cell-cell adhesion bonds independent of vinculin expression. On the other hand, aggregates of vinculin-depleted γ229 and γ227 cells that were formed in suspension during a two-hour static incubation at 37°C were desegregated more easily with the imposition of shear flow than the BIM and R3 cell aggregates formed under identical conditions. Loss of vinculin was associated with a reduction in cell-cell adhesion strength only among those cells lacking contact to a substrate. Overall, the results indicate that vinculin is not needed for forming strong cell-cell adhesion bonds between neighboring carcinoma cells which are adherent to the basal lamina.     

Understanding Marine Mussel Adhesion

In addition to identifying the proteins that have a role in underwater adhesion by marine mussels, research efforts have focused on identifying the genes responsible for the adhesive proteins, environmental factors that may influence protein production, and strategies for producing natural adhesives similar to the native mussel adhesive proteins. The production-scale availability of recombinant mussel adhesive proteins will enable researchers to formulate adhesives that are water-impervious and ecologically safe and can bind materials ranging from glass, plastics, metals, and wood to materials, such as bone or teeth, biological organisms, and other chemicals or molecules. Unfortunately, as of yet scientists have been unable to duplicate the processes that marine mussels use to create adhesive structures. This study provides a background on adhesive proteins identified in the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, and introduces our research interests and discusses the future for continued research related to mussel adhesion.     

Adhesion a la moule

Mussels owe their sessile way of life in the turbulent intertidalzone to adaptive adjustments in the process and biochemistryof permanent attachment. These have understandably attractedscientific interest given that the attachment is rapid, versatile,tough and not subverted by the presence of water. The adhesivepads of mussel byssus contain at least six different proteinsall of which possess the peculiar amino acid 3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine(DOPA) at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 30 mol %. Studiesof protein distribution in the plaque indicate that proteinswith the highest levels of DOPA, such as mefp-3 (20 mol %) andmefp-5 (30 mol %), appear to predominate at or near the interfacebetween the plaque and substratum. Although the presence ofDOPA in proteins has traditionally been associated with cross-linkingvia chelate-mediated or covalent coupling, recent experimentswith natural and synthetic DOPA-containing polypeptides suggestthat cross-link formation is not the only fate for DOPA. IntactDOPA, particularly near the interface, may be essential forgood chemisorption to polar surfaces. Uniformly high DOPA oxidationto cross-links leads to interfacial failure but high cohesivestrength, while low DOPA oxidation results in better adhesionat the expense of cohesion. Defining the adaptations involvedin balancing these two extremes is crucial to understandingmarine adhesion.     

Shear-Enhanced Oral Microbial Adhesion

Shear-enhanced adhesion, although not observed for fimbria-mediated adhesion of oral Actinomyces spp., was noted for Hsa-mediated adhesion of Streptococcus gordonii to sialic acid-containing receptors, an interaction implicated in the pathogenesis of infective endocarditis.Colonization of the tooth surface involves adhesin-mediated interactions between different species of bacteria and between bacteria and salivary components adsorbed onto the acquired enamel pellicle (11, 16). Examples include Hsa-mediated attachment of Streptococcus gordonii to α2-3-linked sialic acid termini of mucinous glycoproteins (18, 21, 23), type 1 fimbria-mediated attachment of Actinomyces oris (formerly Actinomyces naeslundii) to proline-rich proteins (PRPs) (9, 15), and type 2 fimbria-mediated attachment of A. oris and of A. naeslundii to Galβ1-3GalNAc motifs in mucins (15). Type 2 fimbriae also recognize Galβ1-3GalNAc motifs in cell surface receptor polysaccharides (RPS) of certain initial colonizing streptococci (4). Importantly, all these interactions occur in the presence of soluble salivary components that are potential inhibitors of adhesion. Thus, to fulfill their biological role, the corresponding adhesins must be selective for surface-associated receptor molecules rather than for their soluble counterparts. For example, type 1 fimbria-mediated adhesion of actinomyces to surface-associated PRP is not inhibited by soluble PRP (8); exposure of a cryptic receptor on PRP molecules upon adsorption to the tooth surface was postulated. A different mechanism was suggested for type 2 fimbria-mediated adhesion of Actinomyces spp. in the presence of soluble mucins. In this case, heavily fimbriated cells were thought to bind with greater avidity to surface-associated receptors (5).Another explanation for bacterial adhesion in the presence of soluble receptors has emerged from recent studies on the effect of shear force on fimbria-mediated adhesion of Escherichia coli to mannose-containing receptors (17, 24, 25). At low shear, cells attached weakly and rolled along the receptor-coated substratum. As shear was increased, cells became stationary; subsequent reduction in shear caused the cells to resume rolling. These reversible changes in adhesion strength were postulated to arise from shear-dependent drag force on bacteria when bound to surface-associated ligands. Structural data suggested that a shear-dependent conformational change in the mannose-binding fimbrial adhesin FimH resulted from the formation of a so-called catch bond that increased the strength of the adhesin-ligand interaction. This increase may favor recognition of surface-associated receptors over soluble receptors because soluble receptors are not subject to shear stress and thus cannot induce catch bond formation.Examples of shear-enhanced adhesion also include the interaction between von Willebrand factor and GPIbα on platelets (7) and recognition of P-selectin by P-selectin glycoprotein ligand on leukocytes (12). The present study addresses whether fimbria-mediated adhesion of Actinomyces spp. and Hsa-mediated adhesion of S. gordonii are shear enhanced.     

Adhesion in Candida spp

Microbial adherence is one of the most important determinants of pathogenesis, yet very few adhesins have been identified from fungal pathogens. Four structurally related adhesins, Hwp1, Ala1p/Als5p, Als1p, from Candida albicans and Epa1p from Candida glabrata, are members of a class of proteins termed glycosylphosphatidylinositol-dependent cell wall proteins (GPI-CWP). These proteins have N-terminal signal peptides and C-terminal features that mediate glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) membrane anchor addition, as well as other determinants leading to attachment to cell wall glucan. While common signalP/GPI motifs facilitate cell surface expression, unique features mediate ligand binding specificities of adhesins. The first glimpse of structural features of putative adhesins has come from biophysical characterizations of the N-terminal domain of Als5p. One protein not in the GPI-CWP class that was initially described as an adhesin, Int1p, has recently been shown to be similar to Bud4p of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in primary amino acid sequence, in co-localizing with septins and in functioning in bud site selection. Progress in understanding the role of adhesins in oroesophageal candidiasis has been made for Hwp1 in a study using beige athymic and transgenic epsilon 26 mice that have combined defects in innate and acquired immune responses. Searches of the C. albicans genome for proteins in the GPI-CWP class has led to the identification of a subset of genes that will be the focus of future efforts to identify new Candida adhesins.     

Adhesion in Corynebacterium diphtheriae

The study of 8 C. diphtheriae strains of different origin revealed that these strains were capable of inducing the agglutination of trypsinized sheep red blood cells (SRBC). Toxigenic strains gravis isolated from diphtheria patients were more active in their adhesion to SRBC than toxigenic strains gravis isolated from carriers. The latter were, in their turn, more active than nontoxigenic strains mitis. No fimbriae were detected on the cell surface by electron microscopy.     

Desmosomal Adhesion In Vivo

Abstract

Desmosomes are intercellular junctions that provide strong adhesion or hyper-adhesion in tissues. Here, we discuss the molecular and structural basis of this with particular reference to the desmosomal cadherins (DCs), their isoforms and evolution. We also assess the role of DCs as regulators of epithelial differentiation. New data on the role of desmosomes in development and human disease, especially wound healing and pemphigus, are briefly discussed, and the importance of regulation of the adhesiveness of desmosomes in tissue dynamics is considered.     

Adhesion molecules in radiotherapy

Recent studies have documented changes in adhesion molecule expression and function after exposure to ionizing radiation. Adhesion molecules mediate cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions and are essential for a variety of physiological and pathological processes including maintenance of normal tissue integrity as well as tumor development and progression. Consequently, modulation of adhesion molecules by radiation may have a role in radiation-induced tumor control and normal tissue damage by interfering with cell signaling, radioresistance, metastasis, angiogenesis, carcinogenesis, immune response, inflammation and fibrosis. In addition, the interactions of radiation with adhesion molecules could have a major impact in developing new strategies to increase the efficacy of radiation therapy. Remarkable progress has been made in recent years to design targeted drug delivery to radiation-up-regulated adhesion molecules. Furthermore, the inhibition of adhesion, migration, invasion and angiogenesis by blocking adhesion receptors may represent a new therapeutic approach to improve tumor control and decrease radiation toxicity. This review is focused on current data concerning the mechanistic interactions of radiation with adhesion molecules and the possible clinical-pathological implications in radiotherapy.     

Adhesion in vascular biology

The vasculature delivers vital support for all other tissues by supplying oxygen and nutrients for growth and by transporting the immune cells that protect and cure them. Therefore, the microvasculature developed a special barrier that is permissive for gasses like oxygen and carbon dioxide, while fluids are kept inside and pathogens are kept out. While maintaining this tight barrier, the vascular wall also allows immune cells to exit at sites of inflammation or damage, a process that is called transmigration. The endothelial cell layer that forms the inner lining of the vasculature is crucial for the vascular barrier function as well as the regulation of transmigration. Therefore, adhesions between vascular endothelial cells are both tight and dynamic and the mechanisms by which they are established, and the mechanisms by which they are controlled have been extensively studied over the past decades. Because of our fundamental strive to understand biology, but also because defects in vascular barrier control cause a variety of clinical problems and treatment strategies may evolve from our detailed understanding of its mechanisms. This special focus issue features a collection of articles that review key components of the development and control of the endothelial cell-cell junction that is central to endothelial barrier function.     

Adhesion between cerebroside bilayers

The structure, hydration properties, and adhesion energy of the membrane glycolipid galactosylceramide (GalCer) were studied by osmotic stress/X-ray diffraction analysis.(1) Fully hydrated GalCer gave a repeat period of 67 A, which decreased less than 2 A with application of applied osmotic pressures as large as 1.6 x 10(9) dyn/cm(2). These results, along with the invariance of GalCer structure obtained by a Fourier analysis of the X-ray data, indicated that there was an extremely narrow fluid space (less than the diameter of a single water molecule) between fully hydrated cerebroside bilayers. Electron density profiles showed that the hydrocarbon chains from apposing GalCer monolayers partially interdigitated in the center of the bilayer. To obtain information on the adhesive properties of GalCer bilayers, we incorporated into the bilayer various mole ratios of the negatively charged lipid dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol (DPPG) to provide known electrostatic repulsion between the bilayers. Although 17 and 20 mol % DPPG swelled (disjoined) the GalCer bilayers by an amount predictable from electrostatic double-layer theory, 5, 10, 13, and 15 mol % DPPG did not disjoin the bilayers. By calculating the magnitude of the electrostatic pressure necessary to disjoin the bilayers, we estimated the adhesion energy for GalCer bilayers to be about -1.5 erg/cm(2), a much larger value than that previously measured for phosphatidylcholine bilayers. The observed discontinuous disjoining with increased electrostatic pressure and this relatively large value for adhesion energy indicated the presence of an attractive interaction, in addition to van der Waals attraction, between cerebroside bilayers. Possible attractive interactions are hydrogen bond formation and hydrophobic interactions between the galactose headgroups of apposing GalCer bilayers.