- A study co-led by Miguel Sánchez-Álvarez analyzes for the first time how caveolin-1, a protein involved in diseases such as lipodystrophy, cancer, and cardiovascular disorders, is regulated in different tissues of the human body
An international research team, co-led by Miguel Sánchez-Álvarez, head of the Cell Compartmentalization, Homeostasis and Inflammation group at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale (IIBM) CSIC-UAM, has used an extensive gene expression database from adult human tissues to better understand how caveolin-1, a protein key to health and many diseases, is regulated. This study offers a new perspective on how its expression varies depending on the tissue and what mechanisms may be involved in these changes.
Caveolin-1 (CAV1) plays multiple essential cellular roles, from organizing the plasma membrane—where it is a key component of caveolae—to transporting lipids and cholesterol within the cell. Its involvement in diverse diseases such as cancer, hypertension, or lipodystrophy has generated great interest in the scientific community. However, until now, most studies on this protein had been conducted in animal models or cell lines, leaving a gap in our understanding of its behavior in adult human tissues.
Thanks to the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) consortium—a gene expression database including thousands of samples from most adult human tissues, both from healthy individuals and from patients with different conditions—the researchers were able to identify CAV1 expression patterns and associate them with various cellular functions. As Miguel Sánchez-Álvarez explains, “we detected two large groups of biological functions associated with caveolin-1: some functions were common to nearly all tissues and related to how cells adhere and interact with their physical environment, and other more specific functions—such as inflammation or mitochondrial metabolism—depended on the identity of the tissue.”
The study, published in the journal International Journal of Molecular Sciences, also employed computational tools to analyze which cell types contribute to CAV1 levels in each tissue. Víctor Jiménez, first author of the study, highlights a particularly relevant finding: “In tissues such as adipose tissue, CAV1 levels could be a good indicator of inflammation and immune cell infiltration.”
The team also compiled the first list of potential regulators of this protein in adult human tissues. Some of them, which are tissue-specific, are chromatin modulators, supporting and explaining in detail that CAV1 regulation is established during tissue development or may even be inherited.
The study also explored how certain clinical conditions of the donors—such as requiring assisted ventilation before death—might influence caveolin-1 expression. “We observed that this condition significantly affected tissues such as muscle or adipose tissue, where CAV1 is highly expressed,” adds Sánchez-Álvarez.
This work opens new avenues for understanding the role of caveolin-1 in human physiology and disease, and lays the foundation for future studies focused on this protein as a potential diagnostic marker or therapeutic target.
Researchers from Yale University, the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), and CUNEF University also contributed to this study.
Cover image: Histological section of myocardium stained by immunohistochemistry, showing that CAV1 is particularly concentrated in the endothelium of the blood vessels that supply cardiac tissue.
Reference:
Jiménez-Jiménez, V., Sánchez-Cabo, F., Schwartz, M. A., Sánchez-Álvarez, M., & del Pozo, M. Á. (2025). A survey for human tissue-level determinants of CAV1 regulation and function. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 26(8), 3789. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26083789
The article is available HERE