Parvin: A hub of intracellular signalling pathways regulating cellular behaviour and disease progression

α-actinin superfamily houses the family of parvins, comprising α, β and γ isoforms in the vertebrates and a single orthologue in the invertebrates. Parvin as an adaptor protein is a member of the ternary IPP-complex including Integrin Linked Kinase (ILK) and particularly-interesting-Cys-His-rich protein (PINCH). Each of the complex proteins showed a conserved lineage and was principally used by the evolutionarily primitive integrin-adhesome machinery to regulate cellular behaviour and signalling pathways. Parvin facilitated integrin mediated integration of the extracellular matrix with cytoskeletal framework culminating in regulation of cellular adhesion and spreading, cytoskeleton reorganisation and cell survival. Studies have established role of parvin in pregnancy, lactation, matrix degradation, blood vessel formation and in several diseases such as cancer, NAFLD and cardiac diseases etc. This review narrates the history of parvin discovery, its elaborate gene structure and conservation across phyla including cellular expression, localisation and interacting partners in vertebrates as well as invertebrates. The review further discusses how parvin acts as an epicentre of signalling pathways, its associated mutants and diseased conditions.