β-Arrestin--Not Just for G Protein-Coupled Receptors
Allen Spiegel
The -arrestin adaptor proteins are known to mediate the endocytosis of G protein-coupled receptors. In this way, they down-regulate the activated receptors ensuring that they are degraded or recycled within the cell. As Spiegel explains in his Perspective, it now turns out that -arrestins are also important for the endocytosis and down-regulation of a variety of other receptors including Frizzled 4 and TGF--receptors, II and III (Chen et al., Chen et al.).
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The author is at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. E-mail: spiegela@extra.niddk.nih.gov
Related articles in Science:
ß-Arrestin 2 Mediates Endocytosis of Type III TGF-ß Receptor and Down-Regulation of Its Signaling
Wei Chen, Kellye C. Kirkbride, Tam How, Christopher D. Nelson, Jinyao Mo, Joshua P. Frederick, Xiao-Fan Wang, Robert J. Lefkowitz, and Gerard C. Blobe
Science 2003 301: 1394-1397. (in Reports) [Abstract] [Full Text]
