[Role of the elastin-laminin receptor in the vasoregulation]

The elastin-laminin receptor was shown to be present on several benign and malignant cell types and to mediate several important cell reactions such as chemotactic movements of fibroblasts and monocytes, release of lytic enzymes and oxygen free radicals from leucocytes, increased adhesion of mesenchymal cells to elastin fibers as well as modifications of ion fluxes-increase of calcium and sodium influxes and decrease of ouabain-dependent potassium influx. We now demonstrated that the addition of elastin peptides to rat aorta rings precontracted with noradrenaline produced an endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. The inhibition of this effect by laminin and lactose is in favor of the mediation of this action of elastin peptides by the 67 kDa subunit of the elastin-laminin receptor which possesses a lectin site. As elastin peptides are present in the circulating blood and their concentration was shown to increase in some pathological conditions, this phenomenon may well have physiopathological significance.