The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the family of integrins. Integrins are heterodimeric integral membrane proteins composed of an alpha chain and a beta chain, and function as cell surface adhesion molecules. This gene encodes alpha 3 subunit, which undergoes post-translational cleavage in the extracellular domain to yield disulfide-linked light and heavy chains that join with beta 1 subunit to form an integrin that interacts with many extracellular-matrix proteins. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been identified for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2008]