Cholesterol, lipid rafts, and disease

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany

Address correspondence to: Kai Simons, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstrasse 108, D-01307 Dresden, Germany. Phone: 49-351-2102800; Fax: 49-351-2102900; E-mail: ed.gbc-ipm@snomis.

Lipid rafts are dynamic assemblies of proteins and lipids that float freely within the liquid-disordered bilayer of cellular membranes but can also cluster to form larger, ordered platforms. Rafts are receiving increasing attention as devices that regulate membrane function in eukaryotic cells. In this Perspective, we briefly summarize the structure and regulation of lipid rafts before turning to their evident medical importance. Here, we will give some examples of how rafts contribute to our understanding of the pathogenesis of different diseases. For more information on rafts, the interested reader is referred to recent reviews (1, 2).

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Acknowledgments

We thank T. Kurzchalia, W. Stremmel, and the members of the Simons laboratory for critical reading of this manuscript. The authors were supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Schwerpunktprogramm SPP 1085, Zelluläre Mechanismen der Alzheimer Erkrankung.

Acknowledgments

Footnotes

Robert Ehehalt’s present address is: University of Heidelberg, Department of Internal Medicine IV, Heidelberg, Germany.

Conflict of interest: No conflict of interest has been declared.

Nonstandard abbreviations used: glycophosphatidylinositol-anchored (GPI-anchored); endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS); β-secretase (BACE); endoplasmic reticulum (ER); baby hamster kidney (BHK); detergent-resistant membranes (DRMs); Alzheimer disease (AD); amyloid-β-peptide (Aβ).

Footnotes

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