Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored receptor-mediated bacterial endocytosis

An increasing number of pathogens or their toxins appear to utilize glycosylphosphatidylinositol(GPI)-anchored receptors to trigger entry into immune and other host cells. Since these receptors have no transmembrane and intracellular moieties: how endocytosis is initiated is unclear. Recently. CD48 on mast cell membranes was shown to trigger endocytosis of bacteria via a route that avoids fusion with lysosomes and by a mechanism involving discrete cellular entities called caveolae, The localization of CD48 within caveolae appears to be a prerequisite for caveolae-mediated bacterial entry. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. on behalf of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies.