Abstract

MACIAS ABRAHAM, Consuelo. Adhesion molecules: Importance in the immune and inflammatory response. Rev Cubana Hematol Inmunol Hemoter [online]. 2006, vol.22, n.2, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-2996.

Adhesion molecules are functional receptors that appear in the cellular membrane and have an active participation in multiple physiological and pathological phenomena, such as the organization of animal cells during the embrionary development by their differentiation, migration and localization in organs and tissues; the hemostasis phenomena as the platelet aggregation and the formation of thrombi; tissular repair and wound healing; and the tumoral dissemination or metastasis. They also play an important role in the migration and activation of leukocyte sin immunosurveillance, and in the development of the inflammatory response and of the mechanisms that take part in the cellular immune response. The fundamental characteristic of these receptors is the capacity to transduce signals to the interior of the cell and to modulate cascades of signals induced by different growth factors. The knowledge of the regulation of their expression, their state of activation on the cell surface, the cellular and tissular distribution and their possible interactions, are of vital significance to understand the action mechanisms involved in the functioning of the cells participating in the immunological defense, in the physiopathogeny of different diseases and in the development of new therapeutic strategies. Therefore, the study of the behavior of these molecules in the course of different diseases is a very topical working line at present and it is also of great interest in the field of immunology and in medical practice

Keywords : Molecules; adhesion; receptors.