Platelet Membrane Transporters in Health and Disease: Basic Biology and Clinical Relevance
- 1Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- 2Department of Medicine, University of California, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
Abstract
Platelet surface adhesion receptors and intracellular signaling proteins have been the focus of platelet research for decades, with the aim of understanding how they contribute to hemostatic and thrombotic functions. However, membrane transporters and their respective roles in platelets and megakaryocytes have received relatively little attention, despite their importance for cellular regulation. Platelets harbor members of two principal structurally dissimilar large families of transporters differing in their energy source: ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporter family and the solute carrier (SLC) family. Family members comprise integral membrane proteins that control the uptake, distribution and excretion of a variety of nutrients and metabolites, lipids, iron and drugs across concentration gradients, thereby exerting significant influence over cellular metabolism and platelet activation. In addition to transporters found in the plasma membrane, platelet transporters may also localize to lysosomal, mitochondrial and secretion granule membranes or to additional organelles. Interestingly, the impact of platelet transporters does not appear to be limited to canonical platelet functions but may extend to recently established platelet interactions with immune cells and selected tissues, with repercussions on health and disease. More recently, members of these two families have been recognized as modulators of drug efficacy and proposed as therapeutic targets. In this review we describe transporter structure, corresponding molecular mechanisms of cargo transport, functional significance, and transporter regulation, within a platelet framework.
Related
- Novel Insights into the Biochemistry of Citrate and Its Transporters: Relevance to Metabolic Rewiring, Tumor Microenvironment, and Bone Metastasis in Cancer.
- Clinical relevance of MRI-informed motor progression phenotypes in early Parkinson’s disease
- Net Renal Drug Secretion Critically Requires Significant Contribution of Basal Uptake Transporters: Perspective From Mechanistic Kidney Model Simulation and Integration of Clinical and In Vitro Data
- Clinical Relevance of Multiplex PCR for Respiratory Pathogens in Hospitalized Adults with Influenza-Like Illness
- Integrated transcriptomic and clinical analyses reveal the prognostic relevance of GPC3 and a putative ceRNA-associated relationship in gastric cancer
BibTeX
@article{gautam2026platelet,
title = {{Platelet Membrane Transporters in Health and Disease: Basic Biology and Clinical Relevance}},
author = {Deepa Gautam and Ana Kasirer-Friede},
journal = {Biomolecules},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/biom16101537},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/16/10/1537},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Platelet Membrane Transporters in Health and Disease: Basic Biology and Clinical Relevance
AU - Deepa Gautam
AU - Ana Kasirer-Friede
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Biomolecules
DO - 10.3390/biom16101537
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/16/10/1537
AB - Platelet surface adhesion receptors and intracellular signaling proteins have been the focus of platelet research for decades, with the aim of understanding how they contribute to hemostatic and thrombotic functions. However, membrane transporters and their respective roles in platelets and megakaryocytes have received relatively little attention, despite their importance for cellular regulation. Platelets harbor members of two principal structurally dissimilar large families of transporters differing in their energy source: ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporter family and the solute carrier (SLC) family. Family members comprise integral membrane proteins that control the uptake, distribution and excretion of a variety of nutrients and metabolites, lipids, iron and drugs across concentration gradients, thereby exerting significant influence over cellular metabolism and platelet activation. In addition to transporters found in the plasma membrane, platelet transporters may also localize to lysosomal, mitochondrial and secretion granule membranes or to additional organelles. Interestingly, the impact of platelet transporters does not appear to be limited to canonical platelet functions but may extend to recently established platelet interactions with immune cells and selected tissues, with repercussions on health and disease. More recently, members of these two families have been recognized as modulators of drug efficacy and proposed as therapeutic targets. In this review we describe transporter structure, corresponding molecular mechanisms of cargo transport, functional significance, and transporter regulation, within a platelet framework.
SN - 2218-273X
ER -