Laminins, a family of extracellular matrix glycoproteins, are the major noncollagenous constituents of basement membranes. They have been implicated in a wide variety of biological processes including cell adhesion, differentiation, migration, signaling, neurite outgrowth and metastasis. Laminins are heterotrimers composed of 3 non-identical chains that adopt a cruciform structure with 3 short arms, each formed by a different chain, and a long arm composed of all 3 chains. Each laminin chain is a multidomain protein encoded by a distinct gene and in some cases undergoes alternative splicing to give rise to separate chain variants.

References:
1) Hirako Y., Yoshino K., Zillikens D., Owaribe K. Extracellular cleavage of bullous pemphigoid antigen 180/type XVII collagen and its involvement in hemidesmosomal disassembly. J Biochem. 2003 Feb;133(2):197-206. PMID: 12761182
2) Uematsu J., Nishizawa Y., Hirako Y., Kitamura K., Usukura J., Miyata T., Owaribe K. Both type-I hemidesmosomes and adherens-type junctions contribute to the cell-substratum adhesion system in myoepithelial cells. Eur J Cell Biol. 2005 Mar;84(2-3):407-15. PMID: 15819417
3) Owaribe K, Nishizawa Y, Franke WW. Isolation and characterization of hemidesmosomes from bovine corneal epithelial cells. Exp Cell Res. 1991 Feb;192(2):622-30. PMID:1988297

Laminins, a family of extracellular matrix glycoproteins, are the major noncollagenous constituents of basement membranes. They have been implicated in a wide variety of biological processes including cell adhesion, differentiation, migration, signaling, neurite outgrowth and metastasis. Laminins are heterotrimers composed of 3 non-identical chains that adopt a cruciform structure with 3 short arms, each formed by a different chain, and a long arm composed of all 3 chains. Each laminin chain is a multidomain protein encoded by a distinct gene and in some cases undergoes alternative splicing to give rise to separate chain variants.

References:
1) Hirako Y., Yoshino K., Zillikens D., Owaribe K. Extracellular cleavage of bullous pemphigoid antigen 180/type XVII collagen and its involvement in hemidesmosomal disassembly. J Biochem. 2003 Feb;133(2):197-206. PMID: 12761182
2) Uematsu J., Nishizawa Y., Hirako Y., Kitamura K., Usukura J., Miyata T., Owaribe K. Both type-I hemidesmosomes and adherens-type junctions contribute to the cell-substratum adhesion system in myoepithelial cells. Eur J Cell Biol. 2005 Mar;84(2-3):407-15. PMID: 15819417
3) Owaribe K, Nishizawa Y, Franke WW. Isolation and characterization of hemidesmosomes from bovine corneal epithelial cells. Exp Cell Res. 1991 Feb;192(2):622-30. PMID:1988297