Promotes cell proliferation, chemotaxis, angiogenesis and cell adhesion. Appears to play a role in wound healing by up-regulating, in skin fibroblasts, the expression of a number of genes involved in angiogenesis, inflammation and matrix remodeling including VEGA-A, VEGA-C, MMP1, MMP3, TIMP1, uPA, PAI-1 and integrins alpha-3 and alpha-5. CCN1-mediated gene regulation is dependent on heparin-binding. Down-regulates the expression of alpha-1 and alpha-2 subunits of collagen type-1. Promotes cell adhesion and adhesive signaling through integrin alpha-6/beta-1, cell migration through integrin alpha-v/beta-5 and cell proliferation through integrin alpha-v/beta-3. Interaction with integrins is heparin- and cell-type-dependent and promotes cell adhesion. In skin fibroblasts it binds ITGA6/ITGB1, in endothelial cells, binds ITGAV/ITGB3 and in platelets, ITGA2B/ITGB3. Binds, in vitro, ITGAV/ITGB5. Belongs to the CCN family.