Laminin

Actin is essential for a wide range of cell functions, ranging from cell division and chromatin remodeling to vesicle trafficking and maintenance of cellular structure.

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) is the trans-differentiation of stationary epithelial cells into motile mesenchymal cells. During EMT, epithelial cells lose their junctions and apical-basal polarity, reorganize their cytoskeleton, undergo a change in the signaling cascade that defines cell shape and reprograms gene expression. Collectively, these changes increase the motility of individual cells and enables the development of an invasive phenotype.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe muscle wasting condition, causing disability and early death. There is currently no cure or adequate treatment for DMD, but pioneering research indicates that injection of a laminin protein may prevent (or at least slow) this muscle degeneration.

Laminin is one of a large number of proteins expressed on the basal laminar of the ECM (extracellular matrix). The laminin antibody database covers several proteins, which interact with integrins and other receptor proteins to support cellular differentiation, morphology, migration, cell survival and the maintenance of tissue phenotypes. Laminin antibody studies have played a key role in research into angiogenesis and tumor development.