You've got to be kindlin!

In this issue of Blood, Liao et al report that kindlin-2 is necessary for angiogenic sprouting in vitro and for developmental and tumor angiogenesis in vivo.(1) The process of blood vessel sprouting is known to involve the alpha V beta 3 vitronectin integrin on endothelium. Kindlin-2 linkage to the C-terminal tail of beta 3 completed the outside-in circuit necessary for integrin signaling that is critical for navigation of new vessel sprouts.