P30536

TSPO also known as PBR is an 18 kDa mitochondrial drug- and cholesterol-transporting protein involved in steroid hormone synthesis and mitochondrial homeostasis in various cell types. Present mainly in the mitochondrial compartment of peripheral tissues, the protein encoded by this gene interacts with some benzodiazepines and has different affinities than its endogenous counterpart. The protein is a key factor in the flow of cholesterol into mitochondria to permit the initiation of steroid hormone synthesis. Alternatively spliced transcript variants have been reported; one of the variants lacks an internal exon and is considered non-coding, and the other variants encode the same protein.