title: Desmosomal cadherins.
abstract: New evidence from blocking desmosomal adhesion with anti-adhesion peptides reveals a role for desmosomes in cell positioning in morphogenesis. Desmosomal adhesion is necessary for the stability of adherens junctions in epithelial cell sheets. Knockout and mis-expression of desmosomal cadherins in mice suggests that they may function directly or indirectly in regulating epidermal differentiation. Protein kinase C signalling and tyrosine phosphorylation appear to regulate desmosomal adhesion. There are new insights into the role of desmosomal cadherins in autoimmune, infectious and genetic disease.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, UK. david.garrod@man.ac.uk
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Garrod
authors.forename: Anita J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Merritt
authors.forename: Zhuxiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000737:chemistry*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D003896:Desmosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D004817:Epidermis / Q000378:metabolism*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype; D011485:Protein Binding
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins