title: Rafting with cholera toxin: endocytosis and trafficking from plasma membrane to ER.
abstract: Cholera toxin (CT), and members of the AB(5) family of toxins enter host cells and hijack the cell's endogenous pathways to induce toxicity. CT binds to a lipid receptor on the plasma membrane (PM), ganglioside GM1, which has the ability to associate with lipid rafts. The toxin can then enter the cell by various modes of receptor-mediated endocytosis and traffic in a retrograde manner from the PM to the Golgi and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Once in the ER, a portion of the toxin is unfolded and retro-translocated to the cytosol so as to induce disease. GM1 is the vehicle that carries CT from PM to ER. Thus, the toxin pathway from PM to ER is a lipid-based sorting pathway, which is potentially meditated by the determinants of the GM1 ganglioside structure itself.
authors.affiliation: GI Cell Biology, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 21115, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel J-F
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Chinnapen
authors.forename: Himani
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chinnapen
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Saslowsky
authors.forename: Wayne I
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Lencer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000378:metabolism*; D004705:Endocytosis / Q000502:physiology*; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D021381:Protein Transport / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002772:Cholera Toxin