Dysfunction of caveolae in muscle disease: A cell biological perspective.

Loss or dysfunction of muscle caveolae causes a range of muscle diseases, including caveolinopathies, by disrupting key cellular processes.

• Why it matters: Understanding how caveolar defects lead to muscle dysfunction is crucial for developing targeted treatments for these diseases, yet the specific mechanisms remain unclear.
• What they did: The authors review cell biological mechanisms by analyzing structural and functional advances in muscle and non-muscle systems, focusing on how caveolar loss affects mechanoprotection, signaling, lipid organization, and T-tubule function.
• The result: This work proposes a unifying classification for caveolin-3 variants, linking molecular defects to clinical phenotypes and guiding future research into therapeutic strategies.