Generating chimeric β1 integrins and assessing effects on CHO cell adhesion.

Integrins are involved in cell-matrix adhesion and are formed by αβ dimers, containing extracellular and cytoplasmic domains and their function is regulated by their cytoplasmic domains’ interactions with cytosolic proteins. One of the proteins whose activation has been shown to differ with different β subunit binding is Kindlin. Specifically, Kindlin has been shown to inhibit β1 integrins but activate β3 integrins when co-expressed with Talin (another integrin-binding cytosolic protein). Studies have shown that cancer cells use an integrin switch behavior to undergo Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and become metastatic. This project aims to contribute toward β1 Integrin knowledge base through testing chimeric β3-β1 integrin expression. This project presents promising leads toward generating chimeric β3-β1 integrins and generating an assay to test their expression in CHO cell models.