Cell adhesion complexes in epithelial cells. Cell-cell adhesion is maintained in epithelial tissues by the adherens junction and desmosomes. At the adherens junctions, E-cadherin forms extracellular interactions with E-cadherin molecules on neighboring cells. Intracellularly, E-cadherin interacts with either β-catenin or plakoglobin, which then interact with α-catenin, an actin-binding protein. A fourth catenin, p120-catenin, also interacts with E-cadherin and regulates its stability at the membrane. At the desmosome, the desmosomal cadherins (desmoglein and desmocollin) interact with plakoglobin and plakophilin, which interact with desmoplakin, which in turn associates with the intermediate filament cytoskeleton. The basic, core protein composition of the desmosomes is represented here: the exact protein constituents of the desmosomes and their interactions vary between different types of cells and tissues.
