Unligated integrin tails (red) colocalize with caspases (green).
The authors studied adherent cells in an artificial three-dimensional extracellular matrix, and found that expression of unligated integrins or integrin β subunit cytoplasmic domains in these cells induces apoptosis. The cells remained attached to the matrix while initiating cell death, distinguishing this integrin-mediated apoptotic pathway from anoikis, in which cells die after losing adherence. Instead, the unligated integrins recruit caspase 8 to the membrane and activate an apoptotic pathway that is independent of death receptors and distinct from stress-associated apoptosis.
Stupack et al. propose...
The Rockefeller University Press
2001
The Rockefeller University Press
2001
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