In biology, scaffold protein is an important regulator in many key signal pathways. Although the function of scaffold proteins is not strictly defined, they interact or combine with many components in signal pathway to form complexes. In these signal pathways, scaffold proteins regulate signal transduction and locate the pathway components (in the form of complexes) in specific areas of cells, such as cell membrane, cytoplasmic matrix, nucleus, Golgi apparatus, endosome and mitochondria.

Scaffold proteins play a role in at least four ways: combining signal components, locating components in specific areas of cells, regulating signal transduction by assisting positive feedback or negative feedback signals, and separating correct signal proteins from competing proteins.

Extended data:

One of the most detailed signal pathways in biology is RAS-ERK pathway. In this pathway, RASG protein activates MAPKKRAF, MAPKKRAF activates MAPK MEK1,MAPK MEK1activates MAPKERK.

It has been proved that several scaffold proteins are involved in this pathway and other similar MAPK pathways. One of the scaffold proteins is KSR. KSR is a positive regulator of this pathway, which is located on the cell membrane in cell activities, so it can aggregate the components in ERK pathway and locate the activated ERK on the cell membrane.

The receptor of NLRP is used as a scaffold protein to polymerize inflammatory corpuscles, which are complexes that lead to the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL- 18 and IL- 1β.

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