Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Nov 11.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Pharm Des. 2009;15(12):1277–1294. doi: 10.2174/138161209787846766

Fig. (3). Cytoskeletal Linkages.

Fig. (3)

Basement membrane ligands can establish links to the actin and keratin cytoskeletons by binding to integrins and dystroglycan. (a) β1-integrins: Nearly all basement membrane components bind to β1-integrins. These integrins bind to cytoskeletal intermediates that bind to F-actin. The intermediates shown are integrin linked kinase (ILK) and α- and β-parvin, α-actinin (act), talin (tal) vinculin (Vn) and Arp2/3, and filamin (fil) (drawing after [45]). (b) Dystroglycan: The LG domains of laminins, agrin and perlecan bind to α-dystroglycan (αDG). αDG binds to β-dystroglycan, a transmembrane protein that binds to F-actin through dystrophin and utrophin. In muscle, dystroglycan is part of a complex that includes the sarcoglycans and other proteins. Homologues of dystrophin and utrophin exist in other tissues. (c) α6β4-integrin: Laminin 332 binds to this unique integrin that forms part of hemidesmosome complexes and that forms a linkage with keratin filaments [14].