Abstract:
Cell migration and tissue invasion during tumor metastasis require the regulated
disassembly of focal adhesions, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly defined. We previously
showed that the turnover of focal adhesions occurs through odpha5Peta1 integrin endocytosis from focal
adhesions (1). We further discovered that only integrins in their active conformation are internalized
during focal adhesion disassembly and we set out to define the molecular machinery responsible for
integrin transport (1,2). These studies revealed that the pathway required for the trafficking of active
integrins involves different components than the pathway required for the trafficking of inactive integrins
(1,2). Significantly, only by inhibiting the endocytosis of activated integrins was cell migration inhibited
(2). Hence, the further identification of key components of the focal adhesion disassembly pathway is
likely to expose novel avenues to inhibit tumor cell invasion and metastasis.