Implications for Future Research

Abstract

In this last chapter I will attempt to discuss briefly some of the outstanding questions and issues concerning fibronectins. I will concentrate on those future directions that I find personally most interesting and will not attempt to be exhaustive. The preceding chapters have reviewed thoroughly the molecular and cellular work up to mid 1989 and have also discussed in detail many of the best understood physiological and pathological functions of fibronectins (e.g., Chapters 12–15). There are also data bearing on the roles of fibronectins in certain other processes of physiological and clinical importance. Research in these areas seems certain to increase greatly in the next few years, building on the detailed molecular and cellular information. The latter part of this chapter will discuss some of these aspects and potential future applications of our knowledge of fibronectins.