Mechanical tension is a critical determinant of cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis,
migration, and development. Integrins have been implicated in sensing force but little is
known about how forces are transduced to biochemical signals. We now show that
mechanical strain stimulates conformational activation of integrin αvβ3 in NIH3T3 cells.
Integrin activation is mediated by phosphoinositol 3-kinase and is followed by an increase in
integrin binding to extracellular matrix proteins. Mechanical stretch stimulation of JNK was …