Figure 1.

Cell adhesion molecules in normal and cancer cells A, schematic representation of the structure of four major classes of cell adhesion molecules. B, interactions between cell adhesion molecules on the cell surface create different types of cellular adhesions, including adherens junctions, gap junctions, desmosomes, and hemidesmosomes. C, alterations in cell adhesion molecules in the transition between the normal epithelial cell state (left) and malignancy (right). The localization of the distinct cell adhesion complex types is shown. EGF, epidermal growth factor; CRP, complement regulatory protein domains.