Role of very late adhesion integrins in mediating repair of human airway epithelial cell monolayers after mechanical injury

SR White, DR Dorscheid, KF Rabe… - American journal of …, 1999 - atsjournals.org
SR White, DR Dorscheid, KF Rabe, KR Wojcik, KJ Hamann
American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology, 1999atsjournals.org
Repair of the airway epithelium after injury requires that processes such as adhesion and
cell migration occur in a defined order. Both of these processes depend on interactions
between extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and appropriate integrins. To study these
interactions, we examined monolayer wound repair in a cultured human airway epithelial
cell line, 16HBE14o−. Wounds created in confluent monolayers grown on either collagen-IV,
laminin-1, or laminin-2 matrix closed quickly in response to 15 ng/ml epidermal growth factor …
Repair of the airway epithelium after injury requires that processes such as adhesion and cell migration occur in a defined order. Both of these processes depend on interactions between extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and appropriate integrins. To study these interactions, we examined monolayer wound repair in a cultured human airway epithelial cell line, 16HBE14o. Wounds created in confluent monolayers grown on either collagen-IV, laminin-1, or laminin-2 matrix closed quickly in response to 15 ng/ml epidermal growth factor (EGF). Concurrent treatment of cells grown on each matrix protein with EGF and a monoclonal antibody (mAb) to β1-integrin inhibited wound closure. Treatment with a mAb to α2-, α3-, and α6-integrin blocked wound repair in monolayers grown on collagen-IV but did not do so in monolayers grown either on laminin-1 or laminin-2. Inhibition was not due to cell detachment or apoptosis. These data demonstrate that integrins expressed by airway epithelial cells mediate wound closure on different constitutive ECM proteins. These data suggest that β1-integrin subunit function is required to permit migration and spreading of epithelial cells, and that α-integrin subunits alone do not mediate migration of epithelial cells grown on either laminin-1 or laminin-2. These differences may become important if the matrix protein composition of airway basement membrane changes in disease states such as asthma.
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