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Avidity regulation of integrins: the driving force in leukocyte adhesion

2000; Elsevier BV; Volume: 12; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0955-0674(00)00129-0

1879-0410

Yvette van Kooyk, Carl G. Figdor,

Immunotherapy and Immune Responses

The activity of integrins on leukocytes is tightly controlled, and their adhesion capacity shifts rapidly when cells emigrate from the blood to the tissues. The leukocyte-specific β2 integrin LFA-1 (αLβ2) is the most important integrin expressed by leukocytes that regulate lymphocyte migration and the initiation of an immune response through binding to ICAM-1,-2 or-3. The binding activity of LFA-1 is rapidly altered by intracellular stimuli that activate LFA-1. Although alterations in the affinity of LFA-1, which leads to enhanced ICAM-1 binding, have been proposed, evidence is emerging that dynamic reorganisation of LFA-1 into microclusters is the major mechanism that regulates its binding capacity.