Escorting receptors for degradation
It is not known in detail how endocytosed receptors are trafficked to the degradative lysosomes, but work in Harald Stenmarks lab has uncovered several factors involved in this process. Among these are the so-called endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRTs), and Thomas Slagsvold in Stenmarks group has previously shown that the so-called GLUE domain in the ESCRT-II complex binds ubiquitin .
In a recent paper in Traffic, Lene Malerød, a postdoc in Stenmarks lab, shows that the ESCRT-II complex is required for degradation of ubiquitinated epidermal growth factor receptor and chemokine receptors. This provides new insight into how growth factor and chemokine receptors are transported intracellularly and identifies a novel potential tumour suppressor complex.
Links:
Malerod L, Stuffers S, Brech A, Stenmark H.
Vps22/EAP30 in ESCRT-II Mediates Endosomal Sorting of Growth Factor and Chemokine Receptors Destined for Lysosomal Degradation.
Traffic. 2007 Aug 20 [Epub ahead of print]
Lene Malerød
The home page of Harald Stenmark's group (radium.no/stenmark)
Department of Biochemistry
Institute of Cancer Research