Membrane compartmentation and the response to antigen.

Antigen-receptor engagement is a complex, highly orchestrated rearrangement of signaling molecules at, and adjacent to, the plasma membrane. Recent discoveries have shown that the plasma membrane itself is differentiated into microdomains of distinct lipid constituents and that the affiliation of lipid-modified proteins with those domains has important implications for antigen-receptor function. Disruption of lipid microdomains by a variety of methods attenuates TCR signal transduction.