“…Despite their high structural similarity, tetraspanins seem to differ both in their functions and signal transduction. Notably, a single point mutation or deletion of the CD151 or CD37 gene leads to kidney and skin malfunctions or defective immunity in both humans and mice, while the targeted deletion or alternative splicing of tetraspanin CD9, CD37, CD53, CD81, and CD82 (singularly or in combination) profoundly impairs function or maturation of B and T lymphocytes and myeloid lineage cells or tissue metabolism in vertebrates [ 4 , 7 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Aberrant expression of tetraspanins have been observed in tumor tissues across a wide spectrum of cancer types, ranging from breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers to glioblastoma and leukemia [ 1 , 20 , 21 ].…”