Background: Lipid rafts are currently an intensely investigated topic of cell biology. In
addition to a demonstrated role in signal transduction of the host cell, lipid rafts serve as
entry and exit sites for microbial pathogens and toxins, such as FimH-expressing
enterobacteria, influenza virus, measles virus and cholera toxin. Furthermore, caveolae, a
specialised form of lipid raft, are required for the conversion of the non-pathogenic prion
protein to the pathogenic scrapie isoform. Objectives: A number of reports have shown …