Borel J P, Maquart F X, Robert A M, Labat-Robert J, Robert L
CNRS UMT 6237, laboratoire de biochimie et biologie moléculaire, faculté de médecine, université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, 51095 Reims, France.
Pathol Biol (Paris). 2012 Feb;60(1):2-6. doi: 10.1016/j.patbio.2011.10.001. Epub 2012 Jan 21.
The science of connective tissues has (at least) a double origin. Collagen, their major constituent was first studied in conjunction with the leather industry. Acid mucopolysaccharides (now glycosaminoglycans) were characterised by (bio)-chemists interested in glycoconjugates. They joined mainly hospital-based rheumatology departments. Later started the study of elastin with the discovery of elastases and of connective tissue-born (structural) glycoproteins. Besides rhumatologists and leather-chemists mainly pathologists became involved in this type of research, followed closely by ophthalmology research. The first important meetings of these diverse specialists were organised under the auspices of NATO, first in Saint-Andrew's in GB in 1964 and a few years later (1969) in Santa Margareta, Italy. With the discovery of fibronectin, a "structural glycoprotein", started the study of cell-matrix interactions, reinforced by the identification of cell-receptors mediating them and the "cross-talk" between cells and matrix constituents. The first initiative to organise societies for this rapidly growing discipline was that of Ward Pigman in New York in 1961, restricted however to glycol-conjugates. Next year, in 1962 was founded the first European Connective Tissue Society in Paris: the "Club français du tissu conjonctif", which played a crucial role in the establishment of schools, laboratories, national and international meetings in the major cities of France: Paris, Lyon, Reims, Caen,Toulouse. A second European society was born in Great Britain, and at a joint meeting with the French society at the Paris Pasteur Institute, was founded in 1967 by these societies the Federation of European Connective Tissue Societies (FECTS). Their meetings, organised every second year, drained a wide attendance from all over the world. An increasing number of young scientists joined since then this branch of biomedical discipline with several international journals devoted to connective tissue research, to matrix biology. The increasing number and quality of the young generation of scientists engaged in research related to the extracellular matrix or better Biomatrix and cell-matrix interactions is a further guarantee for the continued interest in this crucial field of science at the interface of basic and medically oriented research.
结缔组织科学（至少）有双重起源。其主要成分胶原蛋白最初是与皮革工业相关联进行研究的。酸性粘多糖（现称糖胺聚糖）是由对糖缀合物感兴趣的（生物）化学家进行表征的。他们主要来自医院的风湿病科。后来随着弹性蛋白酶以及结缔组织源性（结构性）糖蛋白的发现，开始了对弹性蛋白的研究。除了风湿病学家和皮革化学家外，主要是病理学家参与了这类研究，眼科研究也紧随其后。这些不同领域的专家们的首次重要会议是在北约的主持下召开的，1964年首次在英国的圣安德鲁斯召开，几年后（1969年）在意大利的圣玛格丽塔召开。随着纤连蛋白这一“结构性糖蛋白”的发现，开始了细胞与基质相互作用的研究，介导这些相互作用的细胞受体的鉴定以及细胞与基质成分之间的“串扰”进一步强化了这一研究。1961年纽约的沃德·皮格曼率先发起为这一迅速发展的学科组建社团，但仅限于糖缀合物领域。次年，即1962年，首个欧洲结缔组织协会在巴黎成立：“法国结缔组织俱乐部”，它在法国主要城市（巴黎、里昂、兰斯、卡昂、图卢兹）建立学派、实验室以及组织国内和国际会议方面发挥了关键作用。第二个欧洲协会在英国诞生，1967年，在巴黎巴斯德研究所与法国协会的一次联合会议上，这些协会共同创立了欧洲结缔组织协会联合会（FECTS）。其每两年组织一次的会议吸引了来自世界各地的众多参会者。从那时起，越来越多的年轻科学家加入了这一生物医学学科分支，有几本国际期刊专门致力于结缔组织研究和基质生物学研究。越来越多且素质越来越高的年轻一代科学家投身于与细胞外基质（或更确切地说是生物基质）以及细胞与基质相互作用相关的研究，这进一步确保了人们对这一处于基础研究和医学导向研究交叉领域的关键科学领域的持续关注。
