Berditchevski Fedor, Odintsova Elena
Cancer Research UK Institute for Cancer Studies, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Traffic. 2007 Feb;8(2):89-96. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0854.2006.00515.x. Epub 2006 Dec 20.
Small transmembrane proteins of the tetraspanin superfamily are believed to function as the main structural blocks of specialized membrane microdomains (referred to as tetraspanin-enriched microdomains, TERM or TEM). Through a multitude of homotypic and heterotypic interactions, tetraspanins regulate lateral clustering and, consequently, signalling involving adhesion and growth factor receptors as well as costimulatory proteins. The presence of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I and MHCII molecules in TERM led to suggestion of tetraspanins' involvement in antigen presentation. In addition, certain tetraspanins function as viral co-receptors and may be important for viral egress from infected cells. It has recently become apparent that in addition to their purely structural function as organizers of TERM, tetraspanins also regulate various aspects of trafficking and biosynthetic processing of associated receptors. Here, we review recent studies, which specifically focus on this issue.
四跨膜蛋白超家族的小跨膜蛋白被认为是特殊膜微结构域（称为富含四跨膜蛋白的微结构域，TERM或TEM）的主要结构组成部分。通过大量的同型和异型相互作用，四跨膜蛋白调节侧向聚集，从而调节涉及黏附分子、生长因子受体以及共刺激蛋白的信号传导。TERM中主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）I和MHCII分子的存在提示四跨膜蛋白参与抗原呈递。此外，某些四跨膜蛋白作为病毒共受体发挥作用，可能对病毒从感染细胞中释放很重要。最近很明显，除了作为TERM组织者的纯粹结构功能外，四跨膜蛋白还调节相关受体运输和生物合成加工的各个方面。在此，我们综述了最近专门关注这个问题的研究。
