Fig. 10. BP180 modulates establishment of cell-cell junctions. pp126 cells maintained in low calcium medium were treated with either control IgG or an antibody against the C-terminus of BP180 for 24 hours and then switched to medium containing 2.0 mM calcium. After 4 hours, cells were processed for confocal immunofluorescence microscopy using an antibody against p120 catenin (A,C) or E-cadherin (B,E) together with a secondary antibody to identify bound BP180 antibodies (D,F). In cells treated with control IgG, p120 catenin and E-cadherin staining is linear and is concentrated along sites of cell-cell contact (A,B). In cells treated with the BP180 antibody, p120 catenin appears in a punctate pattern in rows perpendicular to cell-cell contact sites (C), whereas E-cadherin shows a diffuse staining over the cell surface (E). D and F show that BP180 antibodies bind at cell-cell contact sites. Bar, 10 µm.
