β3 integrins have been implicated in a wide variety of functions, including platelet aggregation and thrombosis (αIIbβ3) and implantation, placentation, angiogenesis, bone remodeling, and tumor progression (αvβ3). The human bleeding disorder Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT) can result from defects in the genes for either the αIIb or the β3 subunit. In order to develop a mouse model of this disease and to further studies of hemostasis, thrombosis, and other suggested roles of β3 integrins, we have generated a strain of β3-null mice. The mice are viable and fertile, and show all the cardinal features of GT (defects in platelet aggregation and clot retraction, prolonged bleeding times, and cutaneous and gastrointestinal bleeding). Implantation appears to be unaffected, but placental defects do occur and lead to fetal mortality. Postnatal hemorrhage leads to anemia and reduced survival. These mice will allow analyses of the other suggested functions of β3 integrins and we report that postnatal neovascularization of the retina appears to be β3-integrin–independent, contrary to expectations from inhibition experiments.

Osteoclasts express the αvβ3 integrin, an adhesion receptor that has been implicated in bone resorption and that is therefore a potential therapeutic target. To assess the role of this heterodimer in skeletal development in vivo, we engineered mice in which the gene for the β3 integrin subunit was deleted. Bone marrow macrophages derived from these mutants differentiate in vitro into numerous osteoclasts, thus establishing that αvβ3 is not necessary for osteoclast recruitment. Furthermore, the closely related integrin, αvβ5, does not substitute for αvβ3 during cytokine stimulation or authentic osteoclastogenesis. β3 knockout mice, but not their heterozygous littermates, develop histologically and radiographically evident osteosclerosis with age. Despite their increased bone mass, β3-null mice contain 3.5-fold more osteoclasts than do heterozygotes. These mutant osteoclasts are, however, dysfunctional, as evidenced by their reduced ability to resorb whale dentin in vitro and the significant hypocalcemia seen in the knockout mice. The resorptive defect in β3-deficient osteoclasts may reflect absence of matrix-derived intracellular signals, since their cytoskeleton is distinctly abnormal and they fail to spread in vitro, to form actin rings ex vivo, or to form normal ruffled membranes in vivo. Thus, although it is not required for osteoclastogenesis, the integrin αvβ3 is essential for normal osteoclast function.

The role of myofibroblasts in tissue repair and fibrosis is well documented, but the source of these myofibroblasts is unclear. There is evidence of a circulating population of fibrocytes that can home to areas of injury and contribute to myofibroblast populations. Previously, we have shown that the bone marrow is a source of myofibroblasts for many tissues including the gut, lung, and kidney and that this phenomenon is exacerbated by injury. We now show that the bone marrow can contribute to myofibroblast and fibroblast populations in tumor stroma in a mouse model of pancreatic insulinoma. Mice transgenic for the rat insulin promoter II gene linked to the large-T antigen of SV40 (RIPTag) develop solid β-cell tumors of the pancreas. Approximately 25% of myofibroblasts in these pancreatic tumors were donor-derived, and these were concentrated toward the edge of the tumor. Thus, the development of tumor stroma is at least in part a systemic response that may ultimately yield methods of targeting new therapy.