Cell Junctions: Adhesion, Development, and Disease

This long-awaited, first comprehensive book on this topic of fundamental importance in our understanding of cancer begins with an overview of cellular junctions, before covering cell-matrix junctions, cell-cell junctions and cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion in separate sections.
Of high interest to cell and molecular biologists, cancer researchers, oncologists, biochemists, pharmaceutists and those working in the pharmaceutical industry.

“This volume presents an excellent overview into the world of cell adhesion. It provides important details about the main players in all aspects of cell junctions.” –The Quarterly Review of Biology, September 2009

Eagerly awaited, this comprehensive book on a topic of fundamental importance in our understanding of cancer begins with an overview of cellular junctions, before covering in detail cell-matrix junctions, cell-cell junctions as well as cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion.

This reference work is of high interest to cell and molecular biologists, cancer researchers, oncologists, biochemists, pharmaceutists and those working in the pharmaceutical industry.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Bruce A. Fenderson, PhD(Thomas Jefferson University)
Description:Cell junctions are clusters of proteins that provide adhesive contacts between cells and their environment. These receptors and transmembrane signaling molecules play a key role in regulating morphogenesis, differentiation, and wound healing. As noted by the editors, cell junctions "not only mediate physical interactions, but also couple cell contact to signaling pathways that influence cell shape, cell cycle progression, and gene expression." This book reviews the literature on cell junctions in development and disease, with 14 concise chapters on topics ranging from cell matrix adhesion in three dimensions to cadherin trafficking and junction dynamics. The emphasis is on cell biology and protein biochemistry.
Purpose:The purpose is to assemble important contributions from some of the world's leading experts into one book. The authors hope this book will "provide a resource that is valuable to the new student of cell junctions, and to experienced scientists in the field, and to those educators who require a comprehensive assembly of overviews in the discipline of cell contact and adhesion." The authors are experts in this exciting, interdisciplinary field.
Audience:The book is written for basic science and clinical researchers (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and scientists) interested in cell/developmental biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and bioengineering. Oncologists and those working in the pharmaceutical industry will also appreciate this in-depth overview of the cell adhesion literature.
Features:The authors wish to understand how cell junction signaling changes during development and how defects in cell junction signaling contribute to disease. The book is divided into three major sections: l) cell-matrix junctions with an emphasis on integrins; 2) cell-cell junctions with an emphasis on cadherins; and 3) cross-talk between these two types of cell surface contacts. This is not a protocol book, but an up-to-date review of the literature. Each chapter begins with an introduction and concludes with a brief summary or discussion of future research prospects. Results of gene knockout studies are provided for key proteins. The line drawings and photomicrographs are informative and well done, and several figures are printed in full color. The authors provide complete references to facilitate scholarly research.
Assessment:The chapters are readable accounts of a very rich and complicated literature. The authors illustrate how cell surface proteins integrate signals to coordinate complex processes such as cell migration and morphogenesis. The chapters are well written and the book is carefully edited. The excellent preface helps place the individual chapters into perspective. The authors focus on important topics and provide a snapshot of current research findings. An important feature of this book is the focus on cell junctions in health and disease (i.e., clinical correlations). This is a welcome addition to the literature that will be valued by all students of cell adhesion and morphogenesis.

Susan LaFlamme is a professor in the Center for Cell Biology and Cancer Research at the Albany Medical College in Albany NY. She obtained her B.A. from Barnard College and her PhD from Columbia University in New York NY, USA. Professor LaFlamme has received many grants for her studies on integrin signaling and has published extensively in this area. She has served on review panels for the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association.

Andrew Kowalczyk is an Associate Professor for Cell Biology and Dermatology at Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta GA, USA. Dr. Kowalczyk obtained his PhD at Albany Medical School in Albany NY and carried out postdoctoral studies at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago IL, USA. He has received numerous grants and awards and has published extensively in the area of cell adhesion. He has served on review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association, and on several advisory committees for the Society for Investigative Dermatology.