Potential of caveolae in the therapy of cardiovascular and neurological diseases

• Main Authors: Gemma eNavarro, Kjell eFuxe, Dasiel Oscar Borroto-Escuela, Rafael eFranco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-09-01
• Series: Frontiers in Physiology
• Subjects: Down-Regulation; Endothelium; Gene Therapy; cell therapy; microRNA; stem cell
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphys.2014.00370/full

Caveolae are membrane micro-domains enriched in cholesterol, sphingolipids and caveolins, which are transmembrane proteins with hairpin-like structure. Caveolae participate in receptor-mediated trafficking of cell surface receptors and receptor-mediated signaling. Furthermore, caveolae participate in clathrin-independent endocytosis of membrane receptors. On the one hand, caveolins are involved in vascular and cardiac dysfunction. Also, neurological abnormalities in caveolin-1 knockout mice and a link between caveolin-1 gene haplotypes and neurodegenerative diseases have been reported. The aim of this article is to present the rationale for considering caveolae as potential targets in cardiovascular and neurological diseases.