Caveolins in cholesterol trafficking and signal transduction: Implicationsfor human disease

Caveolins are a family of proteins that coat the cytoplasmic face of caveol ae, vesicular invaginations of the plasma membrane. These proteins are cent ral to the organization of the proteins and lipids that reside in caveolae. Caveolins transport cholesterol to and from caveolae, and they regulate th e activity of signaling proteins that reside in caveolae. Through studying the genes encoding the caveolae coat proteins, we have learned much about h ow they perform these multiple functions.