Adhesion within the stem cell niches

Abstract

Growing body of evidence confirms that cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix adhesion within stem cell niches is essential for the establishment and maintenance of niche architecture, for the generation and transmission of short-distance regulatory signals, and for controlling the frequency and nature of stem cell divisions. Recent studies demonstrated that in many stem cell niches, adhesion to support cells and/or extracellular matrix determines orientation of stem cell division plane, thereby contributing to the control of stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. Thus, although further analysis of the implicated molecular mechanisms is required, cadherin-associated and integrin-associated events appear to play essential regulatory roles in tissue-specific stem cell niches.