Human tetraspanin CD81 facilitates invasion of into human epithelial cells.

Human CD81 and CD9 are members of the tetraspanin family of proteins characterized by a canonical structure of four transmembrane domains and two extracellular loop domains. Tetraspanins are known as molecular facilitators, which assemble and organize cell surface receptors and partner molecules forming clusters known as tetraspanin-enriched microdomains. They have been implicated to play various biological roles including an involvement in infections with microbial pathogens.

B4galnt2-mediated host glycosylation influences the susceptibility to infection.

Histo-blood group antigens in the intestinal mucosa play important roles in host-microbe interactions and modulate the susceptibility to enteric pathogens. The gene, expressed in the GI tract of most mammals, including humans, encodes a beta-1,4-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase enzyme which catalyzes the last step in the biosynthesis of the Sd(a) and Cad blood group antigens by adding an N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) residue to the precursor molecules. In our study, we found that loss of expression is associated with increased susceptibility to infection, a murine model pathogen for human enteropathogenic We observed increased histopathological changes upon infection in mice lacking B4galnt2 compared to -expressing wild-type mice.