Homotypic cell–cell interactions and apicobasal polarity in epithelial cells and endothelial cells

Ebnet K., Brinkmann B., Tuncay H.

Abstract

Epithelial and endothelial cells are embedded in sheets of cells and have a pronounced apicobasal polarity. The development of apicobasal polarity is regulated by a conserved set of cell polarity proteins which regulate different aspects of cellular polarization in various contexts. In epithelial and endothelial cells, apicobasal polarity is initiated when cells start to form cell–cell contacts and long before the cells have developed mature cell–cell junctions and have acquired a fully polarized phenotype. Cell–cell adhesion has turned out to be intimately involved in the regulation of polarization. In this chapter, we will highlight the molecular mechanisms through which cell–cell adhesion molecules act in concert with cell polarity proteins to regulate various aspects of cellular polarization in vertebrate epithelial and endothelial cells.