Integrins in Cell Migration.

Cell-migration events play a key role in embryonic development and during physiological and pathological tissue reorganization, for example in wound healing, angiogenesis, inflammation, and tumor metastasis. In embryonic development cells proliferate from germ layers and early organ anlagen such as neural folds or somites and migrate to distinct targets along defined tracks to invade other organs and to build up new tissues. In the adult organism, cells migrate to repair tissue defects, to provide new microvasculature, to support immune defense in inflammatory regions, and to metastasize as a result of malign transformation (1,2). The precision of cell migration, the mechanism of locomotion, the control of time, speed, direction, and target of the migrating cells has been receiving increasing interest in cell biology and molecular medicine (3,4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]