Affiliation:
1. Department of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology, CMC Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
2. Department of Medicine, Jacobs
School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, University of Buffalo, New York, USA
Abstract
Abstract:
Cells transmit information to the external environment and within themselves through
signaling molecules that modulate cellular activities. Aberrant cell signaling disturbs cellular homeostasis
causing a number of different diseases, including autoimmunity. Scaffold proteins, as the
name suggests, serve as the anchor for binding and stabilizing signaling proteins at a particular locale,
allowing both intra and intercellular signal amplification and effective signal transmission.
Scaffold proteins play a critical role in the functioning of tight junctions present at the intersection
of two cells. In addition, they also participate in cleavage formation during cytokinesis, and in the
organization of neural synapses, and modulate receptor management outcomes. In autoimmune settings
such as lupus, scaffold proteins can lower the cell activation threshold resulting in uncontrolled
signaling and hyperactivity. Scaffold proteins, through their binding domains, mediate protein-
protein interaction and play numerous roles in cellular communication and homeostasis. This
review presents an overview of scaffold proteins, their influence on the different signaling pathways,
and their role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune and auto inflammatory diseases. Since these
proteins participate in many roles and interact with several other signaling pathways, it is necessary
to gain a thorough understanding of these proteins and their nuances to facilitate effective target
identification and therapeutic design for the treatment of autoimmune disorders.
Publisher
Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.