Focal adhesion kinase pp125FAK is associated with both intercellular junctions and matrix adhesion sites in vivo

Previous studies have characterized pp125FAK as a focal adhesion (FA)-associated non-receptor tyrosine kinase. However, there are few data available on the expression and localization of this kinase in tissues. In this study we show that in human tissues the highest expression of pp125FAK is found in some developing epithelia, where pp125FAK is associated with either intercellular junctions or with sites of adhesion to the basement membrane, whereas the same adult tissues show only a faint reactivity. Connective tissue cells do not show any reactivity for pp125FAK in vivo, but developing arterial smooth muscle expresses pp125FAK at high levels. The expression pattern in malignant tissues is variable, but most carcinomas do not express this kinase. In primary cultures of human amnion epithelial cells pp125FAK first becomes associated with the polarized adhesion lamellae, but is subsequently translocated to the forming adherens junctions (AJs). Later upon culturing pp125FAK becomes associated with prominent FAs, as in cultured cell lines. Taken together, our results suggest that the association of pp125FAK with FAs in cultured cells is principally due to a process of adaptation, whereas in vivo pp125FAK mainly functions as a regulatory component of intercellular AJs and cell-matrix adhesions of developing epithelia and also in developing arterial smooth muscle.