“…For example, VLA-4 may act as a costimulatory molecule on T cells and could therefore influence T-cell activation and differentiation (11)(12)(13)(14). Furthermore, VLA-4 may have a role in collagen matrix reorganization in response to injury or inflammation (15), memory B-cell activation (16), and eosinophil and neutrophil migration into inflamed tissue (17,18). In addition, VLA-4 interactions with either VCAM-1 or fibronectin have been shown to protect cells from apoptosis, possibly due to the upregulation of Bcl-2, an anti-apoptotic regulatory protein (19)(20)(21).…”