Integrins are integral cell-surface proteins composed of an alpha chain and a beta chain. A given chain may combine with multiple partners resulting in different integrins. For example, alpha 6 may combine with beta 4 in the integrin referred to as TSP180, or with beta 1 in the integrin VLA-6. Integrin alpha 6 (also VLA-6, CD49F and ITA6) is a 130‑150 kDa member of the integrin alpha chain family of molecules. Mature Integrin alpha 6 is a 1107 amino acid (aa) type I transmembrane glycoprotein that contains a 1027 aa extracellular region and a 93 aa cytoplasmic tail. Integrin alpha 6 forms a non-disulfide-linked heterodimeric complex with both integrin beta 1 and beta 4. Each complex serves as a receptor for laminin.
