The Roles of α4-Integrins in the Development of Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract
Most lymphocytes recirculate throughout the body, migrating from blood through organized lymphoid tissues such as lymph nodes (LN) and Peyer’s patches (PP), then to lymph and back to blood (Gowans and Knight 1964). Smaller numbers of lymphocytes migrate from blood to extranodal tissues such as pancreas and then through lymphatic vessels to LN (Mackay et al. 1990). An important feature of this migration is the ability of lymphocytes to recognize and adhere to the surface of blood vessel endothelial cells before migrating through the vessel wall into surrounding tissue (Carlos and Harlan 1994; Imhof and Dunon 1995; Butcher and Picker 1996).