American Society for Cell Biology, Molecular Biology of the Cell, 7(24), p. 995-1006
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Focal adhesions are intricate protein complexes that facilitate cell attachment, migration and cellular communication. Lasp-2 (LIM-nebulette), a member of the nebulin family of actin-binding proteins, is a newly identified component of these complexes. To gain further insights into the functional role of lasp-2, we identified two additional binding partners of lasp-2, the integral focal adhesion proteins, vinculin and paxillin. Interestingly, the interaction of lasp-2 with its binding partners vinculin and paxillin was significantly reduced in the presence of lasp-1, another nebulin family member. The presence of lasp-2 appears to enhance the interaction of vinculin and paxillin with each other, however, as with the interaction of lasp-2 with vinculin or paxillin, this effect is greatly diminished in the presence of excess lasp-1. This suggests the interplay between lasp-2 and lasp-1 could be an adhesion regulatory mechanism. Lasp-2's potential role in metastasis was revealed as overexpression of lasp-2 in either SW620 or PC-3B1 cells, metastatic cancer cell lines, increased cell migration, but impeded cell invasion suggesting that the enhanced interaction of vinculin and paxillin may functionally destabilize focal adhesion composition. Taken together, these data suggest that lasp-2 has an important role in coordinating and regulating the composition and dynamics of focal adhesions.