LEUKOCYTE INTEGRINS AND INFLAMMATION

Leukocyte adhesion is of pivotal functional importance. Without adequa te adhesion, T lymphocytes and natural killer cells are not cytotoxic, B cells cannot develop into antibody secreting plasma cells, leukocyt es do not home into inflamed tissues and myeloid cells are not able to phagocytize or exhibit chemotactic responses. During evolution severa l leukocyte adhesion molecules have developed belonging to a few molec ular families. Among these, the leukocyte-specific integrins (beta(2) integrins, CD11/CD18 molecules) are among the most important. Much pro gress has taken place during the past few years, and at present we hav e a considerable knowledge of their structure and function. Inflammati on is critically dependent on integrin activity, and its regulation fo rms the topic of this short review.