In vivo, melanocytes occupy three-dimensional (3D) space. Nevertheless, most experiments involving melanocytes are performed in a two-dimensional microenvironment, resulting in difficulty obtaining accurate results. Therefore, it is necessary to construct an artificial in vivo–like 3D microenvironment. Here, as a step towards engineering a precisely defined acellular 3D microenvironment supporting the maintenance of human epidermal melanocytes (HEMs), we examined the types of integrin heterodimers that are expressed transcriptionally, translationally, and functionally in HEMs. Real-time PCR and fluorescent immunoassay analyses were used to elucidate the expression of integrin α and β subunit genes at the transcriptional and translational levels, respectively. The functionality of the presumed integrin heterodimers was confirmed using attachment and antibody-inhibition assays. Among the genes encoding 12 integrin subunits (α₁, α₂, α₃, α₄, α₅, α₆, α₇, α_V, β₁, β₃, β₅, and β₈) showing significantly higher transcription levels, proteins translated from the integrin α₂, α₄, α₅, β₁, β₃, and β₅ subunit genes were detected on the surface of HEMs. These HEMs showed significantly increased adhesion to collagen I, fibronectin, laminin, and vitronectin, and functional blockade of the integrin α₂ subunits significantly inhibited adhesion to collagen I, fibronectin, and laminin. In addition, there was no significant inhibition of the adhesion to fibronectin or vitronectin in HEMs with functional blockade of the integrin α₄, α₅, or α_V subunits. These results indicate that the active integrin α₂β₁ heterodimer and the inactive integrin α₄, α₅, α_V, β₃, and β₅ subunits are all localized on the surface of HEMs.

在体内，黑素细胞占据三维（3D）空间。然而，大多数涉及黑素细胞的实验都是在二维微环境中进行的，导致难以获得准确的结果。因此，有必要构建一种类似体内的人造3D微环境。在这里，作为迈向工程化，精确定义的，支持维持人类表皮黑素细胞（HEM）的无细胞3D微环境的一步，我们检查了在HEM中转录，翻译和功能表达的整联蛋白异二聚体的类型。实时PCR和荧​​光免疫分析法分别用于阐明整合素α和β亚基基因在转录和翻译水平的表达。假定整合素异二聚体的功能已通过附件和抗体抑制试验得以证实。在编码12个整合素亚基（α₁，α ₂，α ₃，α ₄，α ₅，α ₆，α ₇，α _V，β ₁，β ₃，β ₅，β ₈）表示显著更高转录水平，从所述整翻译α蛋白₂， α ₄，α ₅，β ₁，β ₃，β ₅折边的表面上检测到亚基基因。这些折边显示出显著增加粘附性的胶原蛋白I，纤连蛋白，层粘连蛋白，和玻连蛋白，和整联α功能性阻断₂亚基显着抑制了对胶原蛋白I，纤连蛋白和层粘连蛋白的粘附。此外，有粘附于与整合素α功能性阻断折边纤连蛋白或玻连蛋白的无显著抑制₄，α ₅，或α _V亚基。这些结果表明，活性整合素α ₂ β _1个异源二聚体和非活性整合素α ₄，α ₅，α _V，β ₃，β ₅亚基的所有本地化折边的表面上。