Prohibitins: emerging host targets of bacteria and viruses at the plasma membrane, mitochondria, and cytoplasm

Description

Grecia O Rivera-Palomino and Arianne L Theiss review in 2026 how two related proteins, prohibitin-1 and prohibitin-2, have become targets that bacteria and viruses exploit during infection. Prohibitins sit in lipid-rich sites including the cell surface, the inner mitochondrial membrane, and the cytoplasm, where they support signaling, energy production, and membrane organization. The review organizes current evidence by where in the cell the encounter happens.

At the surface, microbes can use prohibitins as docking points for entry. Inside, pathogens tap their roles in mitochondrial metabolism and dynamics to reshape the host cell to their advantage. Because deleting either protein is lethal in developing mice, they are deeply essential, which cuts both ways for drug design. The authors weigh whether blocking these host factors could yield anti-infective therapies with a fresh mechanism.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13270817