Corneal integrins and their functions

Integrins were first described just over 20 years ago and have been studied in the cornea by many groups interested in how the cornea functions in health and disease. There are a minimum of 12 different integrin heterodimers reported to be expressed by the major resident cells of the cornea: the corneal and limbal epithelial cells, keratocytes/fibroblasts, and corneal endothelial cells. These different integrin heterodimers play important and varied roles in maintaining the cornea and organizing how its cells interact with their surrounding extracellular matrix to maintain corneal clarity. In this review, an overview of the discovery and functions of integrins is provided along with a description of the current state of our knowledge of this large family of important proteins. While we have learned a lot about corneal integrins over the past 20 years, there is still much to learn. Areas where gaps in our knowledge of integrin functions in the cornea are slowing our progress in understanding corneal diseases and dystrophies at a molecular level are highlighted.