title: Cross-talk between hemidesmosomes and focal contacts: understanding subepidermal blistering diseases.
abstract: Because hemidesmosomes and focal contacts (FCs) play major roles in epidermal wound healing and in the pathogenesis of subepidermal blistering diseases, it is of particular importance to understand their cross-talk in the regulation of their assembly and disassembly. In this issue, Ozawa et al. demonstrate that hemidesmosome-enriched protein complex (HPC) and FC dynamics are tightly coregulated in keratinocytes undergoing migration by employing HaCat cells that express fluorescent protein-tagged beta4 integrin and alpha-actinin as markers of HPCs and FCs.
authors.affiliation: Kizawa Memorial Hospital, 590 Shimokobi, Kobi-cho, Minokamo City, Gifu, Japan. yaskitaj@gifu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kitajima
mesh_terms: D000185:Actinin / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001768:Blister / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D022001:Focal Adhesions / Q000502:physiology*; D022002:Hemidesmosomes / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D039663:Integrin beta4 / Q000378:metabolism; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D039663:Integrin beta4; D000185:Actinin