O'Brien V, Frisch S M, Juliano R L
Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 27599, USA.
Exp Cell Res. 1996 Apr 10;224(1):208-13. doi: 10.1006/excr.1996.0130.
It is clear that certain integrins can regulate the growth of tumors, probably by contributing to signal transduction processes. In the present study we have used HT29 human colon carcinoma cells stably transfected with human cDNA for the integrin alpha 5 subunit and studied the effects of alpha 5 expression on the induction of apoptosis. We observe that apoptosis can be triggered in HT29 cells by removal of serum and that this process can be suppressed by the stable expression of full-length integrin alpha 5 subunits. While the mechanism underlying this effect is still unclear, these observations suggest that the alpha 5 beta 1 integrin plays an important role in modulating tumor cell responses to growth factors and nutrients.
