Downloaded from http://cshperspectives.cshlp.org/ on September 29, 2021 - Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Membrane Transport across Polarized Epithelia Maria Daniela Garcia-Castillo,1 Daniel J.-F. Chinnapen,1,2,3 and Wayne I. Lencer1,2,3 1Division of Gastroenterology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02155 2Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02155 3Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Digestive Diseases Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02155 Correspondence:
[email protected] Polarized epithelial cells line diverse surfaces throughout the body forming selective barriers between the external environment and the internal milieu. To cross these epithelial barriers, large solutes and other cargoes must undergo transcytosis, an endocytic pathway unique to polarized cell types, and significant for the development of cell polarity, uptake of viral and bacterial pathogens, transepithelial signaling, and immunoglobulin transport. Here, we review recent advances in our knowledge of the transcytotic pathway for proteins and lipids. We also discuss briefly the promise of harnessing the molecules that undergo trans- cytosis as vehicles for clinical applications in drug delivery. pithelial cells form delicate but highly effec- transcellular endocytic process termed transcy- Etive single-cell-thick barriers that define the tosis (Rojas and Apodaca 2002; Rath et al. 2014; lumen of many tissues, including all secretory Azizi et al. 2015; Tanigaki et al. 2016). Here, we organs and mucosal surfaces. Endothelial cells address new developments in our understand- form analogous single-cell-thick barriers that ing of transcytosis, the process of endosome define blood vessels and capillaries. Both cell trafficking unique to polarized cell types that types function to separate and affect vastly dif- connects one cell surface with the other.