Elastin is a major structural protein of the body, imparting the physical properties of extensibility and elastic recoil to the tissues in which it is found. Elastin is particularly abundant in blood vessels, lung, and some ligaments, but is also present in smaller amounts in a variety of other tissue including skin, uterus, periosteum, myocardium, and elastic cartilage. Because of its crucial contribution to the physical properties and physiological function of such tissues, alterations in elastin synthesis, assembly, and degradation are of importance in several diseases of major social significance, including emphysema, pulmonary and systemic hypertension, atherosclerosis, and in some heritable and acquired diseases of the skin. This application seeks support for the seventh bi-annual Gordon Research Conference on Elastin. This conference will integrate new information on the molecular biology and transcriptional regulation of elastin and elastin-associated proteins with recent results on factors modulating elastin production at the cell and tissue level, providing a comprehensive summary of current knowledge of mechanisms for the control of synthesis of this strongly developmentally regulated protein. In addition, new information on the microfibrillar complex and the role of the cell surface elastin-binding protein will result in new insights into the mechanism of extracellular assembly of the elastic fibre. The conference will also address the mechanisms of turnover and remodelling of the elastic matrix, and the nature and role of endogenous tissues elastase activity and elastase inhibitors in the development and pathology of elastic tissues. Aberrations of elastin synthesis, assembly, and degradation occurring in emphysema, hypertension, atherosclerosis, cutaneous diseases and other pathological situations will continue to provide important insights into the regulation of these processes. The Gordon Conference on Elastin, which has been held every second year since 1979, has become a major meeting for investigators from all over the world with an interest in the morphology, physical chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology and pathology of elastin and elastic tissues. Attendees of previous conferences enthusiastically agree that this meeting provides the most important forum for communications among investigators in this field. The proposed meeting will bring together basic scientists from a variety of disciplines to present and discuss the most recent information on synthesis, assembly and degradation of elastin. As in past years, these deliberations will result in new collaborative studies and stimulate new avenues of investigation of this important connective tissue protein.
