ヒト口蓋扁桃と細胞接着分子

抄録

The palatine tonsils are unique lymphoepithelial organs positioned at the entrance of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. Although there have been many reports about them, their exact functions are still not completely known.
Recently, rapid progress has been made in the understanding of the molecular interactions that result in adhesion. Adhesion and other signals from cell adhesion molecules probably affect the behavior of cells in many organs. So the adhesion of cells is critical to many biological processes, including not only maintenance of tissue integrity, but also embryonal development, wound healing and cellular migrations. Cell adhesion molecules play a contributory role in immune systems and may be related to the structure and function of human tonsils.