Shoshana Levy, Ph.D.
Our research is aimed at understanding the mechanism of action of tetraspanins. This is a multi-gene family, which has shown remarkable conservation over evolution and whose members are expressed in mammals, insects and nematodes. Tetraspanins are also widely expressed in most cell types, forming molecular associations with different proteins in the different cell types.
The tetraspanin CD81 was originally identified in our laboratory as a receptor that controls cell growth. To better define the role of CD81 we created CD81-deficient mice. These mice have impairments in their immune, nervous and reproductive systems.
CD81 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of two major human diseases: hepatitis C virus (HCV) and malaria. CD81 is the putative receptor for HCV, CD81 is also required for infection by malaria. Plasmodium sporozoites mature in the liver to merozoites, the stage that infects red blood cells, this maturation step is CD81-dependent.