Review Article

Focal Adhesion Kinases in Adhesion Structures and Disease

Table 1

Common and unique features of focal adhesions, podosomes, and invadopodia. See text for details.

Focal adhesionPodosomesInvadopodia

Appearancedense plaques of F-actinF-actin bundle core surrounded by actin cloudF-actin bundle core surrounded by actin cloud

Sizewidth: 2–6 μmwidth: 0.5–2 μm length: 0.5–2 μmwidth: 0.5–2 μm length: >2 μm

Duration (half-life)hoursminuteshours

Cell expressionnumerous nonmigrating fibroblastic cellsmonocytic cells osteoclasts endothelial cells smooth muscle cells Src-transformed fibroblastscarcinoma cells Src-transformed fibroblasts

Locationoften found at leading edge of cellventral side of the cellular membraneventral side of the cellular membrane

Extracellular matrix degradationnoyesyes

Common signaling moleculesfocal adhesion proteins GTPases actin regulators motor proteins tyrosine kinases phosphatases scaffolding moleculesfocal adhesion proteins GTPases actin regulators motor proteins tyrosine kinases phosphatases scaffolding moleculesfocal adhesion proteins GTPases actin regulators motor proteins tyrosine kinases phosphatases scaffolding molecules

Distinct Featuresintegrin receptorsIntegrin receptors matrix-degrading enzymesmatrix-degrading enzymes