Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Pathogens: raft hijackers

2003; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 3; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/nri1129

1474-1741

Santos Mañes, Gustavo del Real, Carlos Martínez‐A,

Cellular transport and secretion

Throughout evolution, organisms have developed immune-surveillance networks to protect themselves from potential pathogens. At the cellular level, the signalling events that regulate these defensive responses take place in membrane rafts — dynamic microdomains that are enriched in cholesterol and glycosphingolipids — that facilitate many protein–protein and lipid–protein interactions at the cell surface. Pathogens have evolved many strategies to ensure their own survival and to evade the host immune system, in some cases by hijacking rafts. However, understanding the means by which pathogens exploit rafts might lead to new therapeutic strategies to prevent or alleviate certain infectious diseases, such as those caused by HIV-1 or Ebola virus.