Leukocyte membrane expansion: a central mechanism for leukocyte extravasation

The infiltration of inflamed tissues by leukocytes is a key event in the development and progression of inflammation. Although individual cytokines, which coordinate extravasation, have become the targets for therapy, a mechanism that is common to white cell extravasation, regardless of the specific molecular mechanism involved, would represent a more attractive therapeutic target. Such a target may he represented by the events underlying the spreading of leukocytes on the endothelium, which is a necessary prelude to extravasation. This leukocyte spreading involves an apparent increase in the cell surface area. The aim of this review is to examine whether the mechanism underlying the apparent expansion of plasma membrane surface area during leukocyte extravasation could be an Achilles' heel, which is amenable to therapeutic intervention. In this short review, we evaluate the models proposed for the mechanism of membrane expansion and discuss recent data, which point to a mechanism of membrane unwrinkling. The molecular pathway for the unwrinkling of the leakocyte plasma membrane may involve Ca2+ activation of mu-calpain and cleavage of cytoskeletal linkage molecules such as talin and ezrin. This route could be common to all extravasation signals and thus, represents a potential target for anti-inflammatory therapy.