Integrin Signaling, Cell Survival, and Anoikis Distinctions, Differences, and Differentiation.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Signal Transduction Volume 2011, Article ID 738137, 18 pages doi:10.1155/2011/738137 Review Article Integrin Signaling, Cell Survival, and Anoikis: Distinctions, Differences, and Differentiation Pierre H. Vachon1, 2 1 Departement d’Anatomie et de Biologie Cellulaire, Faculte de Medecine et des Sciences de la Sante, Universite de Sherbrooke, ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H5N4 2 ´ Thematique de Recherche en Physiopathologie Digestive du Centre de Recherches Cliniques Etienne-Le Bel, ´ Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke, Campus Fleurimont, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H5N4 Correspondence should be addressed to Pierre H. Vachon, pierre.h.vachon@usherbrooke.ca Received 12 September 2010; Revised 6 January 2011; Accepted 10 March 2011 Academic Editor: A. Yoshimura Copyright © 2011 Pierre H. Vachon. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cell survival and apoptosis implicate an increasing complexity of players and signaling pathways which regulate not only the decision-making process of surviving (or dying), but as well the execution of cell death proper. The same complex nature applies to anoikis, a form of caspase-dependent apoptosis that is largely regulated by integrin-mediated, cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Not surprisingly, the regulation of cell survival, apoptosis, and anoikis