Cell adhesion

Article By:

Klymkowsky, Michael W. Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.

Last reviewed:July 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.117900

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• Cell adhesion, published November 2019:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

The process whereby cells interact and attach to other cells or to inanimate surfaces. Cell adhesion is mediated by cell surface proteins and associated macromolecules. Cell adhesion is important because it forms the physical basis of multicellularity, morphogenesis and embryonic development, tissue integrity, host–pathogen interactions (Fig. 1), immune system function, and the ecological integration of microbial communities. In addition to attaching cells to one another, cell adhesion systems act to coordinate a wide range of cellular behaviors. In animal cells, sites of adhesion serve to organize the system of intracellular protein filaments, known as the cytoskeleton, responsible for cell shape and movement. Adhesive interactions are critical for juxtacrine signaling, by which neighboring cells communicate. Juxtacrine signals regulate gene expression and cell behavior, and they determine whether a cell survives, divides, differentiates, or undergoes programmed cell death (apoptosis). See also: Apoptosis; Cell (biology); Cell biology; Cell differentiation; Cell division; Cytoskeleton; Embryogenesis; Embryonic induction; Gene; Immunology; Microbial ecology; Morphogenesis; Protein

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