Muscle-specific interaction of caveolin isoforms: differential complex formation between caveolins in fibroblastic vs. muscle cells

interaction of caveolin isoforms: differential complex formation be-tween caveolins in fibroblastic vs. muscle cells. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 288: C677–C691, 2005. First published November 23, 2004; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00232.2004.—It is generally well accepted that caveolin-3 expression is muscle specific, whereas caveolin-1 and-2 are coexpressed in a variety of cell types, including adipocytes, endothelial cells, epithelial cells, and fibroblasts. Caveolin-1 and-2 are known to form functional hetero-oligomeric complexes in cells where they are coexpressed, whereas caveolin-3 forms homo-oligo-meric high molecular mass complexes. Although caveolin-2 might be expected to interact in a similar manner with caveolin-3, most studies indicate that this is not the case. However, this view has recently been challenged as it has been demonstrated that caveolin-2 and-3 are coexpressed in primary cultures of cardiac myocytes, where these two proteins can be coimmunoprecipitated. Thus it remains controversia