Claudin interactions in and out of the tight junction

Abstract

Claudins form the paracellular tight junction seal in epithelial tissues. Although there is still limited information on how these proteins are organized at the junction, a number of recent studies have provided useful insights both into claudin-claudin interactions and into interactions between claudins and other proteins. The focus of this review is to summarize recent information about claudin interactions and to identify critical unanswered questions about claudin organization and tight junction structure which will be required to understand claudin function.

Keywords: :

• claudin
• tight junction
• occludin
• ZO-1
• EpCAM
• tetraspanin
• ephrin
• barrier

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Intramural Program of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.