Author:
Kamath Aravind,Kamanna Kantharaju
Abstract
The cell membranes consist of lipid bilayers that are semipermeable. The semipermeable nature enables the cell membranes to regulate the transport of materials entering and exiting the cell. Apart from providing protection and a fixed environment to the cell, the cell membrane has several functions. The covalently linked proteins to lipids on the surface of the cell membranes are the Lipid-anchored proteins. The function of the protein to which the lipid is attached depends on the type of the lipid. Prenylated proteins, fatty acylated proteins, and glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked proteins (GPI) are the three main types of lipid-anchored proteins on the cell membrane. In particular, the prenylated proteins are very important for cell growth, differentiation, and morphology. The dynamic interaction of prenylated proteins with the cell membrane is important for their signaling functions and is often deregulated in disease processes, such as cancer. An understanding of the prenylated proteins and their mechanisms is important for drug development efforts to combat cancer.