Department of Genetics, The Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Int Rev Cell Mol Biol. 2010;279:1-32. doi: 10.1016/S1937-6448(10)79001-8. Epub 2010 Jan 29.
Members of the claudin family of proteins are the main components of tight junctions (TJs), the major selective barrier of the paracellular pathway between epithelial cells. As such, the claudins have the ability to generate the TJ physiological barrier and to control various physiological processes. Therefore, the importance of this family of proteins is obvious and many efforts were made to reveal different aspects of claudin TJ protein biology. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of claudin structure and function, as well as their distribution pattern in different organs and tissues. We mainly highlight the complex interactions of claudins in various physiological systems and suggest a possible role for a coregulation mechanism.
紧密连接（TJ）是上皮细胞旁细胞途径的主要选择性屏障，其中 claudin 蛋白家族成员是其主要组成部分。因此，claudins 具有生成 TJ 生理屏障和控制各种生理过程的能力。因此，该蛋白家族的重要性是显而易见的，人们做出了许多努力来揭示 claudin TJ 蛋白生物学的不同方面。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了我们对 claudin 结构和功能的理解，以及它们在不同器官和组织中的分布模式的最新进展。我们主要强调了 claudins 在各种生理系统中的复杂相互作用，并提出了一种可能的核心调控机制的作用。
