CD151 is involved in a wide variety of cell biological processes, including cell adhesion and the transport of integrins via vesicles. The human CD151 gene maps to chromosome 11p15.5 and encodes a 253 amino acid protein, which belongs to the tetraspan (4TM) superfamily. CD151 can associate with several integrin chains including β1, β3, β4, α2, α3, α5 and α6 integrins. CD151 may provide a framework for the spatial organization of both type I and type II hemidesmosomes, which are specialized junctional complexes that function as cell attachment sites for binding to basement membranes. CD151 RNA transcript (1.6 kb) can be detected in MO7e cells, bone marrow stromal cells, C11 endothelial cells, HUVEC and several myeloid leukemia cell lines, however, no transcript is detected in brain and the lymphoblastoid cell lines MOLT-4 and BALM-1. Leu 149-Glu 213 of CD151 is the interface through which Integrin α3/β1 can bind. CD151 can enhance cell motility, invasion and metastasis of cancer cells in a focal adhesion kinase dependent manner.
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