Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Characterization of Cell Membrane Extensions and Studying Their Roles in Cancer Cell Adhesion Dynamics
Published on: March 26, 2018
Characterization of the focal adhesion complex in human non-small cell lung cancer cell lines
Valérie Forest1, Lydia Campos, Jean-Michel Vergnon
1UPRES-EA3063, Faculté de Médecine Jacques Lisfranc, Saint-Etienne, France. Valerie.forest@univ-st-etienne.fr
Background:
The important metastatic potential of lung cancers is directly correlated with cell adhesion. Cell-extracellular matrix interactions occur in specialized structures termed focal adhesion (FA) complexes. Our aims were to investigate: (i) the expression of the major FA components in three lung cancer cell lines (non metastatic: A549, or metastatic: Calu-1 and H460), (ii) the modifications of the FA complex occurring when apoptosis was induced by Vinorelbine in the A549 cells.
Materials And Methods:
The FA complex was characterized by flow cytometry, immunocytochemical staining and Western blot.
Results:
The expressions of alpha3, betsaP, paxillin, p-paxillin and Grb2 varied depending on the histological type of the tumor. In apoptotic cells, the expressions of the PYK2, p-p38, PI3K and Grb2 adhesion proteins were increased.
Conclusion:
Our data suggest that these adhesion proteins may be implicated in the transduction of death signals.
Related Concept Videos
Intracellular Signaling Affects Focal Adhesions
Some...
Immunoglobulin-like Cell Adhesion Molecules
Ig-CAMs exhibit either homophilic binding (to other Ig-CAMs) or heterophilic binding (to other ligands such as integrins). While most Ig-CAMs...
Cell Adhesion Molecules - Types and Functions
CAM Families
The Integrin family of proteins is primarily involved in a...
Selectins
Anchoring Junctions
Overview of Cell-Matrix Interactions

