Expression of the αvβ6 integrin promotes migration and invasion in squamous carcinoma cells

The integrin alphav beta6 is a fibronectin receptor whose expression is not detectable on normal oral epithelium but is increased significantly in healing and in oral epithelial dysplasia and oral squamous cell carcinoma, suggesting it may promote changes associated with tumor development. To study whether alphav beta6 may drive invasive behavior we have used transfection and retroviral infection to create a panel of epithelial cell lines expressing various levels of alphav beta6. We report that increased expression of alphav beta6 in malignant keratinocytes promotes invasion and leads to an increased capacity for migration towards fibronectin. alphav beta6 expression may have a significant in contributing to the malignant behavior of epithelial cells.