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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Intracellular Phosphoflow Cytometry of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patient-Derived Xenotransplants
Published on: June 6, 2025
alpha5beta1 integrin stimulates Bcl-2 expression and cell survival through Akt, focal adhesion kinase, and
Byung-Heon Lee1, Erkki Ruoslahti
1Department of Biochemistry and Research Institute for Cell & Matrix Biology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 700-422, Korea. leebh@mail.knu.ac.kr
Abstract:
CHO cells expressing alpha5beta1 integrin are more resistant to apoptosis and express more Bcl-2 than the same cells engineered to express alphavbeta1 or cytoplasmically truncated alpha5Deltacbeta1 integrin as their main fibronectin receptor. The Bcl-2 up-regulation by alpha5beta1 is mediated, at least in part, by the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathways. Here, we show that integrin-mediated activation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMK) IV, and the NF-kappaB and CREB transcription factors also enhance the integrin-dependent regulation of Bcl-2 expression in the alpha5beta1cells. A forkhead transcription factor, which is inactivated by Akt, blocked Bcl-2 expression. The FAK pathway was found to be defective in both the alphavbeta1 and alpha5Deltacbeta1 cells. These cell lines differed from one another in two Bcl-2-regulating pathways: adhesion through alphavbeta1 failed to activate Akt, allowing forkhead to suppress Bcl-2 transcription, whereas alpha5Deltacbeta1 did not activate NF-kappaB and CREB, presumably because CaMK IV was not activated. Our results indicate that three pathways, the FAK, PI3K/Akt, and CaMK IV mediate the survival-supporting activity of alpha5beta1 integrin.
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