Claudins and epithelial paracellular transport.
Tight junctions form continuous intercellular contacts controlling solute movement through the paracellular pathway across epithelia. Paracellular barriers vary among epithelia in electrical resistance and behave as if they are lined with pores that have charge and size selectivity. Recent evidence shows that claudins, a large family (at least 24 members) of intercellular adhesion molecules, form the seal and its variable pore-like properties. This evidence comes from the study of claudins expressed in cultured epithelial cell models, genetically altered mice, and human mutants. We review information on the structure, function, and transcriptional and posttranslational regulation of the claudin family as well as of their evolutionarily distant relatives called the PMP22/EMP/MP20/claudin, or pfam00822, superfamily.
Van Itallie
Christina M
CM
Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7545, USA. vitallie@med.unc.edu
Anderson
James M
JM
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001693:Biological Transport, Active / Q000502:physiology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000502:physiology; D019108:Tight Junctions / Q000502:physiology
D008565:Membrane Proteins