Bender Florent, Montoya Margarita, Monardes Virginia, Leyton Lisette, Quest Andrew F G
Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Independencia 1027, Santiago 7, Chile.
Biol Res. 2002;35(2):151-67. doi: 10.4067/s0716-97602002000200006.
Caveolae are small, flask-shaped invaginations of the plasma membrane present on a large number of mammalian cells. Recent results obtained with knock-out mice for the gene caveolin-1 demonstrate that expression of caveolin-1 protein is essential for caveolae formation in vivo. Caveolae are implicated in a wide variety of cellular events including transcytosis, cholesterol trafficking and as cellular centers important in coordinating signalling events. Caveolae share this role and the property of detergent insolubility with plasma membrane assemblies rich in glycosphingolipids and cholesterol, often called lipid rafts, but preferably referred to here as caveolae-like membrane domains. Due to such widespread presence and usage in cellular function, caveolae and related domains are implicated in human diseases, including cancer. In particular, the protein caveolin-1 is suggested to function as a tumor suppressor protein. Evidence demonstrating such a role for caveolin-1 in human colon carcinoma cells will be discussed together with data from microarray experiments seeking to identify caveolin-1 target genes responsible for such behavior.
小窝是存在于大量哺乳动物细胞上的质膜的小的、烧瓶状内陷结构。最近对小窝蛋白-1基因敲除小鼠的研究结果表明，小窝蛋白-1蛋白的表达对于体内小窝的形成至关重要。小窝参与多种细胞活动，包括转胞吞作用、胆固醇运输以及作为协调信号转导事件的重要细胞中心。小窝与富含糖鞘脂和胆固醇的质膜组装体（通常称为脂筏，但此处更宜称为类小窝膜结构域）具有共同的作用和去污剂不溶性特性。由于小窝及其相关结构域在细胞功能中广泛存在和发挥作用，它们与包括癌症在内的人类疾病有关。特别是，小窝蛋白-1被认为起到肿瘤抑制蛋白的作用。将讨论证明小窝蛋白-1在人结肠癌细胞中具有这种作用的证据，以及来自微阵列实验的数据，这些实验旨在鉴定负责这种行为的小窝蛋白-1靶基因。
