Caplan Michael J, Kamsteeg Erik-Jan, Duffield Amy
Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06525-8026, USA.
Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens. 2007 Jul;16(4):353-8. doi: 10.1097/MNH.0b013e328177b1fa.
Members of the tetraspan family are widely expressed and poorly understood. An emerging literature suggests that through their interactions with other membrane proteins they play central or regulatory roles in a wide variety of physiological processes. This review will discuss selected tetraspan complexes and highlight their relevance to epithelial cells and the kidney.
Tetraspans regulate the signaling and trafficking properties of their partner proteins. Tetraspan complexes with integrin molecules, for example, modulate cell adhesion and mobility. Perturbations of tetraspan-integrin assemblies can have dramatic impacts on renal tissue morphogenesis, resulting in a disruption of normal glomerular architecture and selectivity. Tetraspan interactions with renal ion transport proteins appear to affect transporter function by enhancing or inhibiting the endocytic internalization of their transport protein partners.
Tetraspans constitute a novel class of proteins whose capacity to alter the cell biological and functional properties of their membrane protein partners is likely to have wide ranging and important physiological ramifications.
四跨膜蛋白家族成员广泛表达，但人们对其了解甚少。新兴文献表明，通过与其他膜蛋白相互作用，它们在多种生理过程中发挥核心或调节作用。本综述将讨论特定的四跨膜蛋白复合物，并强调它们与上皮细胞和肾脏的相关性。
四跨膜蛋白调节其伴侣蛋白的信号传导和运输特性。例如，四跨膜蛋白与整合素分子形成的复合物可调节细胞粘附和迁移。四跨膜蛋白-整合素组装的扰动可对肾组织形态发生产生显著影响，导致正常肾小球结构和选择性的破坏。四跨膜蛋白与肾脏离子转运蛋白的相互作用似乎通过增强或抑制其转运蛋白伴侣的内吞内化来影响转运体功能。
四跨膜蛋白构成了一类新型蛋白质，其改变膜蛋白伴侣的细胞生物学和功能特性的能力可能具有广泛而重要的生理影响。
