Vascular Biology, Atherosclerosis and Endothelium Biology Integrin-Linked Kinase in the Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Response to Injury

Integrin-mediated interactions between smooth mus-cle cells (SMCs) and the extracellular matrix regulate cell migration and proliferation during neointimal hyperplasia. Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is a serine-threonine kinase and scaffolding molecule that acts downstream of integrin receptors to modulate cell adhesion; therefore, we examined ILK function in SMCs during wound repair. Silencing of ILK expres-sion with siRNA in vitro decreased cell adhesion to fibronectin and accelerated both cell proliferation and wound closure in the cell monolayer; it also re-sulted in the rearrangement of focal adhesions and diminished central actin stress fibers. Akt and GSK3 are ILK substrates that are important in cell motility; however, ILK siRNA silencing did not attenuate inju