The passage of leukocytes across the blood vessel wall is a fundamental event in the inflammatory response. During the last decades, there has been significant progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in leukocyte transmigration. However, it is still a matter of debate whether leukocytes migrate paracellularly or transcellularly through an endothelial cell layer. We could recently show that a VE-cadherin-α-catenin fusion protein locks endothelial junctions in the skin and strongly reduces leukocyte diapedesis in lung, skin and cremaster, establishing the paracellular route as the major transmigration pathway in these tissues. However, the homing of naïve lymphocytes into lymph nodes and extravasation of neutrophils in the inflamed peritoneum were not affected by VE-cadherin-α-catenin. This unexpected heterogeneity of the diapedesis process in different tissues as well as the complexity and dynamics of the cadherin-catenin complex in regulating endothelial junctions will be discussed.
Keywords: VE-cadherin; cell adhesion; diapedesis; endothelial junctions; leukocyte trafficking.