9 research outputs found
Integrin activation - the importance of a positive feedback
Integrins mediate cell adhesion and are essential receptors for the
development and functioning of multicellular organisms. Integrin activation is
known to require both ligand and talin binding and to correlate with cluster
formation but the activation mechanism and precise roles of these processes are
not yet resolved. Here mathematical modeling, with known experimental
parameters, is used to show that the binding of a stabilizing factor, such as
talin, is alone insufficient to enable ligand-dependent integrin activation for
all observed conditions; an additional positive feedback is required.Comment: in press in Bulletin of Mathematical Biolog