Role of integrins in cellular responses to mechanical stress and adhesion.

Mechanical stresses are important environmental cues for both normal cellular functions and pathophysiological changes in conditions such as cardiac hypertrophy and atherosclerosis. There is increasing evidence that mechanotransduction processes in response to mechanical stresses share many common features with processes in cell adhesion, such as an increase in tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins in the focal adhesion sites. Recent findings suggest that integrins may function as mechanotransducers in cells.