title: Design rules for biomolecular adhesion: lessons from force measurements.
abstract: Cell adhesion to matrix, other cells, or pathogens plays a pivotal role in many processes in biomolecular engineering. Early macroscopic methods of quantifying adhesion led to the development of quantitative models of cell adhesion and migration. The more recent use of sensitive probes to quantify the forces that alter or manipulate adhesion proteins has revealed much greater functional diversity than was apparent from population average measurements of cell adhesion. This review highlights theoretical and experimental methods that identified force-dependent molecular properties that are central to the biological activity of adhesion proteins. Experimental and theoretical methods emphasized in this review include the surface force apparatus, atomic force microscopy, and vesicle-based probes. Specific examples given illustrate how these tools have revealed unique properties of adhesion proteins and their structural origins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, USA. leckband@illinois.edu
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leckband
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules