Review
Copyright ©2013 Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Nephrol. Feb 6, 2013; 2(1): 1-10
Published online Feb 6, 2013. doi: 10.5527/wjn.v2.i1.1
Roles of adaptor proteins in podocyte biology
Tae-Sun Ha
Tae-Sun Ha, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361-240, South Korea
Author contributions: Ha TS solely contributed to this paper.
Correspondence to: Dr. Tae-Sun Ha, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, 410 Sung Bong-Ro, Heungduk-gu, Cheongju 361-240, South Korea. tsha@chungbuk.ac.kr
Telephone: +82-43-2696374 Fax: +82-43-2646620
Received: September 17, 2012
Revised: October 26, 2012
Accepted: January 5, 2013
Published online: February 6, 2013
Processing time: 184 Days and 16.4 Hours
Abstract

Podocytes covering the glomerular basement membrane over the glomerular capillary consist of three morphologically and functionally different segments, the cell body, major processes and extending finger-like foot processes (FPs). The FPs of neighboring podocytes are connected by a continuous adherent junction structure named the slit diaphragm (SD). The extracellular SD is linked to the intracellular, a highly dynamic, cytoskeleton through adaptor proteins. These adaptor proteins, such as CD2-associated protein, zonula occludens 1, β-catenin, Nck and p130Cas, located at the intracellular SD insertion area near lipid rafts, have important structural and functional roles. Adaptor proteins in podocytes play important roles as a structural component of the podocyte structure, linking the SD to the cytoskeletal structure and as a signaling platform sending signals from the SD to the actin cytoskeleton. This review discusses the roles of adaptor proteins in the podocyte cytoskeletal structure and signaling from the SD to the actin cytoskeleton.

Keywords: Adaptor protein; Podocyte; Slit diaphragm; Proteinuria; Signaling