Integrin

An integrin, or integrin receptor, is a receptor in the plasma membrane of biological cells. Integrins play an important role in:

• Integration of the cell into the surrounding tissue by
  • cell-cell-interaction
  • adhesive interaction
• Embryonal development
• Tumor development
• Apoptosis
• Connection between intracellular and extracellular scaffolding

Among the ligands of integrins are fibronectin and collagen, both part of the extracellular matrix. Ligand binding leads to clustering (cross-connection) of the multivalent components of the integrin to a functional protein complex. Integrins have no intrinsic kinase activity, but associate kinases (for example, focal adhesion kinase, FAK) on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane.

This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.