Adhesion in vascular biology: Mechanics control dynamics

The vasculature delivers vital support for all other tissues by supplying oxygen and nutrients for growth and by transporting the immune cells that protect and cure them. Therefore, the microvasculature developed a special barrier that is permissive for gasses like oxygen and carbon dioxide, while fluids are kept inside and pathogens are kept out. While maintaining this tight barrier, the vascular wall also allows immune cells to exit at sites of inflammation or damage, a process that is called transmigration. The endothelial cell layer that forms the inner lining of the vasculature is crucial for the vascular barrier function as well as the regulation of transmigration. Therefore, adhesions between vascular endothelial cells are both tight and dynamic and the mechanisms by which they are established, and the mechanisms by which they are controlled have been extensively studied over the past decades. Because of our fundamental strive to understand biology, but also because defects in vascular barrier control cause a variety of clinical problems and treatment strategies may evolve from our detailed understanding of its mechanisms. This special focus issue features a collection of articles that review key components of the development and control of the endothelial cell-cell junction that is central to endothelial barrier function.