Tetraspanins shape the synapse

Abstract Tetraspanins are a family of proteins largely expressed in mammals. These proteins share very similar structures and are involved in several biological processes spanning from the immune system to cancer growth regulation. Moreover, tetraspanins are scaffold proteins that are able to interact with each other and with a subset of proteins involved in the regulation of the central nervous system, including synapse formation, function and plasticity. In this review, we will focus on the analysis of the literature on tetraspanins, highlighting their involvement in synapse formation and function through direct or indirect modulation of synaptic proteins.