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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

In vitro Cell Migration and Invasion Assays
Published on: June 1, 2014
Expression of the alphavbeta6 integrin promotes migration and invasion in squamous carcinoma cells
G J Thomas1, M P Lewis, S A Whawell
1Department of Oral Pathology, Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, UK.
Abstract:
The integrin alphavbeta6 is a fibronectin receptor whose expression is not detectable on normal oral epithelium but is increased significantly in healing and in oral epithelial dysplasia and oral squamous cell carcinoma, suggesting it may promote changes associated with tumor development. To study whether alphavbeta6 may drive invasive behavior we have used transfection and retroviral infection to create a panel of epithelial cell lines expressing various levels of alphavbeta6. We report that increased expression of alphavbeta6 in malignant keratinocytes promotes invasion and leads to an increased capacity for migration towards fibronectin. alphavbeta6 expression may have a significant role in contributing to the malignant behavior of epithelial cells.
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