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      Membranes: a meeting point for lipids, proteins and therapies

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          Abstract

          Membranes constitute a meeting point for lipids and proteins. Not only do they define the entity of cells and cytosolic organelles but they also display a wide variety of important functions previously ascribed to the activity of proteins alone. Indeed, lipids have commonly been considered a mere support for the transient or permanent association of membrane proteins, while acting as a selective cell/organelle barrier. However, mounting evidence demonstrates that lipids themselves regulate the location and activity of many membrane proteins, as well as defining membrane microdomains that serve as spatio-temporal platforms for interacting signalling proteins. Membrane lipids are crucial in the fission and fusion of lipid bilayers and they also act as sensors to control environmental or physiological conditions. Lipids and lipid structures participate directly as messengers or regulators of signal transduction. Moreover, their alteration has been associated with the development of numerous diseases. Proteins can interact with membranes through lipid co-/post-translational modifications, and electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding are all involved in the associations among membrane proteins and lipids. The present study reviews these interactions from the molecular and biomedical point of view, and the effects of their modulation on the physiological activity of cells, the aetiology of human diseases and the design of clinical drugs. In fact, the influence of lipids on protein function is reflected in the possibility to use these molecular species as targets for therapies against cancer, obesity, neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular pathologies and other diseases, using a new approach called membrane-lipid therapy.

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          Most cited references319

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          Exposure of phosphatidylserine on the surface of apoptotic lymphocytes triggers specific recognition and removal by macrophages.

          During normal tissue remodeling, macrophages remove unwanted cells, including those that have undergone programmed cell death, or apoptosis. This widespread process extends to the deletion of thymocytes (negative selection), in which cells expressing inappropriate Ag receptors undergo apoptosis, and are phagocytosed by thymic macrophages. Although phagocytosis of effete leukocytes by macrophages has been known since the time of Metchnikoff, only recently has it been recognized that apoptosis leads to surface changes that allow recognition and removal of these cells before they are lysed. Our data suggest that macrophages specifically recognize phosphatidylserine that is exposed on the surface of lymphocytes during the development of apoptosis. Macrophage phagocytosis of apoptotic lymphocytes was inhibited, in a dose-dependent manner, by liposomes containing phosphatidyl-L-serine, but not by liposomes containing other anionic phospholipids, including phosphatidyl-D-serine. Phagocytosis of apoptotic lymphocytes was also inhibited by the L isoforms of compounds structurally related to phosphatidylserine, including glycerophosphorylserine and phosphoserine. The membranes of apoptotic lymphocytes bound increased amounts of merocyanine 540 dye relative to those of normal cells, indicating that their membrane lipids were more loosely packed, consistent with a loss of membrane phospholipid asymmetry. Apoptotic lymphocytes were shown to express phosphatidylserine (PS) externally, because PS on their surfaces was accessible to derivatization by fluorescamine, and because apoptotic cells expressed procoagulant activity. These observations suggest that apoptotic lymphocytes lose membrane phospholipid asymmetry and expose phosphatidylserine on the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane. Macrophages then phagocytose apoptotic lymphocytes after specific recognition of the exposed PS.
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            Protein prenylation: molecular mechanisms and functional consequences.

            Prenylation is a class of lipid modification involving covalent addition of either farnesyl (15-carbon) or geranylgeranyl (20-carbon) isoprenoids to conserved cysteine residues at or near the C-terminus of proteins. Known prenylated proteins include fungal mating factors, nuclear lamins, Ras and Ras-related GTP-binding proteins (G proteins), the subunits of trimeric G proteins, protein kinases, and at least one viral protein. Prenylation promotes membrane interactions of most of these proteins, which is not surprising given the hydrophobicity of the lipids involved. In addition, however, prenylation appears to play a major role in several protein-protein interactions involving these species. The emphasis in this review is on the enzymology of prenyl protein processing and the functional significance of prenylation in cellular events. Several other recent reviews provide more detailed coverage of aspects of prenylation that receive limited attention here owing to length restrictions (1-4).
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              Heat shock protein 70 surface-positive tumor exosomes stimulate migratory and cytolytic activity of natural killer cells.

              Detergent-soluble membrane vesicles are actively released by human pancreas (Colo-/Colo+) and colon (CX-/CX+) carcinoma sublines, differing in their capacity to present heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70)/Bag-4 on their plasma membranes. Floating properties, acetylcholine esterase activity, and protein composition characterized them as exosomes. An enrichment of Rab-4 documented their intracellular transport route from early endosomes to the plasma membrane. After solubilization, comparable amounts of cytosolic proteins, including tubulin, Hsp70, Hsc70, and Bag-4, but not ER-residing Grp94 and calnexin, were detectable in tumor-derived exosomes. However, with respect to the exosomal surface, only Colo+/CX+ but not Colo-/CX- derived exosomes were Hsp70 membrane positive. Therefore, concomitant with an up-regulated cell surface density of activation markers, migration and Hsp70 reactivity of natural killer (NK) cells was stimulated selectively by Hsp70/Bag-4 surface-positive exosomes, but not by their negative counterparts and tumor cell lysates. Moreover, the exosome-mediated lytic activity of NK cells was blockable by Hsp70-specific antibody. As already shown for TKD stimulation, NK cells preincubated with Hsp70 surface-positive exosomes initiated apoptosis in tumors through granzyme B release. In summary, our data provide an explanation how Hsp70 reactivity in NK cells is induced by tumor-derived exosomes.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                J Cell Mol Med
                J. Cell. Mol. Med
                jcmm
                Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
                Blackwell Publishing Ltd (Oxford, UK )
                1582-1838
                1582-4934
                June 2008
                08 February 2008
                : 12
                : 3
                : 829-875
                Affiliations
                [a ]Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biomedicine, Dept of Biology-IUNICS, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
                [b ]Instituto de Biologa Molecular y Celular, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Elche, Spain
                [c ]Unidad de Biofsica (CSIC-UPV/EHU) and Departamento de Bioqumica, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain
                [d ]Memphys – Center for Biomembrane Physics, Helsinki Biophysics & Biomembrane, Medical Biochemistry/Institute of Biomedicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
                [e ]Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary
                Author notes
                *Correspondence to: Prof. Pablo V. ESCRIBÁ, Department of Biology, University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra de Valldemossa km 7.5, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Tel.: (+34) 971173433 Fax: (+34) 971173184 E-mail: pablo.escriba@ 123456uib.es
                Article
                10.1111/j.1582-4934.2008.00281.x
                4401130
                18266954
                3a7fd281-beaa-47e0-ae46-920dc4a8bbe6
                © 2008 The Authors Journal compilation © 2008 Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine/Blackwell Publishing Ltd
                History
                : 24 November 2007
                : 04 February 2008
                Categories
                Reviews

                Molecular medicine
                lipid bilayer,lipid composition-structure,membrane lipid organization,membrane ion channel,membrane receptor,gpcr,g protein,pkc,cell signalling,heat-shock protein,transmembrane protein,peripheral protein,protein-lipid interactions

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