Molecular Properties and Functions of Integrin Intracellular Regulatory Proteins

Integrin is an important cell surface adhesion molecule, which is a heterodimer formed by α and β subunits through non-covalent bonds and is very important for the localization of immune cells, blood coagulation, metastasis of cancer cells, and the development of tissues and organs. Although the cytoplasmic domain of integrin is usually very short, it can bind with many intracellular regulatory proteins, which plays vital roles in integrin-mediated outside-in and inside-out signalings. Thus, screening and identification of regulatory proteins specifically recognizing integrin cytoplasmic domain can help to illuminate the mechanism of how integrin regulates the bidirectional signal transduction. In this study, the integrin intracellular regulatory proteins were systematically summarized, which interacted with integrin α and β subunits, respectively. The molecular structure, binding site in integrin cytoplasmic domain, regulatory mechanism, and physiological and pathological functions of each protein were introduced in detail. In the end, the clinical application of integrin intracellular regulatory protein was prospected.